Our Crazy Life

The Big Move

2009-03-03T08:43:00.002-05:00

First of all, I apologize for not posting yesterday but my entire day was unpredictible. A freak snow storm caused all of the surrounding counties to cancel school yesterday. Since Royal Learners follows the Fayette County school closings due to bad weather, my munchkins had to stay home yesterday. Not too big of a deal, except when I went to turn on the TV in our living room, it wouldn't turn on. So I was stranded at home with 3 children, all of us in some stage of an illness, without a TV and the weather too cold to allow us some fresh air time. I tried to get to the computer...trust me I tried. Then last night once relief came (in the form of daddy), we packed up and went TV shopping.

So here I am, ready to end the suspense.....

Click HERE.

We're Moving

2009-02-27T10:55:00.002-05:00

I don't want to give too much away so all I'll say is "We're Moving!". Look for more details on Monday, March 2nd.

Have a great weekend!!!

Our Babies

2009-02-26T20:26:00.005-05:00

I know it's been a while since I posted any pictures of our babies. There's a reason for that....I have ZERO free time while at home. The second I make my way to the computer, the boys insist on knowing what I'm doing, want to sit on my lap, want to "help" edit the pictures...etc. So instead of pumping right now, I'm editing/posting pictures. The girls may be in some serious pain right now, but at least I finally posted some pictures of Ayden, Jameson and Ava!!

Saving Some Money

2009-02-24T14:32:00.003-05:00

We have two wonderful fur babies that we absolutely adore. Bonnie and Clyde are very spoiled with their large fenced in back yard. Both my mom and I use a pet sitter who comes to our home daily to let the poopers out while we're at work. David makes a womping $280 per month ($70/week) just to let our dogs out to pee. It's ridiculous!

Jason and I have tossing the idea of a doggy door for some time now. I didn't like the idea of having a hole in our door or wall though. I was also worried about bugs, rain, losing heat/air conditioning, having animals other than our dogs get into our house and other safety issues. After spending a lot of time researching doggie doors, we think we have found the best there is to offer. This bad boy is meant for the frigid temps of the frozen tundra (aka Wisconsin) and has dual flaps to keep the bugs and bad weather out. The best part?? There is a doggie door that just left La Crosse WI and is headed our way via UPS. Our very own Max Seal Wall Mount Pet Door is scheduled to arrive this Thursday!

As much as I love David, it's going to be nice to save that $70 every week!

Looking For A Change?

2009-02-20T13:56:00.002-05:00

Are you disatisfied with the template designs that Blogger provides for you? Then check out this website for some premade designs that totally rock!

I think this one is my favorite so keep your grubby paws off!

Life Is Good

2009-02-19T13:12:00.003-05:00

Last night after the boys were both tucked in, I stood at the kitchen sink washing bottles while Jason snuggled with Ava on the couch.

Jason: You know what?

Me: What?

Jason: I'm really happy we had one more.

Me: Good! Because I was seriously starting to consider putting her back where she came from.

In all honesty, Jason's statement that he's "happy" we had one more baby brings me so much joy. This is the man that was absolutely adamant that we not have any more children. The same man that took about 4 months before he could accept the fact that we had managed to get ourselves pregnant again. This is also the same man who almost fell over when I told him we were having a girl. Now he's a man who has fallen madly in love with a baby girl named Ava.

Life Is Good

Career Change????

2009-02-18T14:08:00.001-05:00

Sorry for another post today, but look what I just stumbled across! If I didn't have to worry about a stable, well paying job with benefits; I'd go for it!

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/fbh/1036656364.html

Inspiration Wednesday

2009-02-18T09:12:00.005-05:00

I just love this painting from Pottery Barn Kids. For some reason it makes me think of the row houses in Chicago. Before moving back to Wisconsin, it was a dream of mine to become a CPA and own a row house in Old Town.

I want this print! It puts a smile on my face every time I read it. Check out Studio Mela's Etsy's Shop here!
Some of my absolute favorite scrapbook supplies come from American Crafts. I just love, love, love everything they come out with. One of the new releases from CHA is their Craft Fair line. Another must have!
I simply adore Elizabeth Kartchner and follow her blog daily. She writes a lovely column for CK Magazine and her scrapping style is perfection. I love this layout she did and will probably lift it some day in the near future.
I love family pictures...especially when displayed in black frames in unique ways. I love the use of shelves, monograms and writing in this display. I may have to do something similar in our hallway.

See you next week for more inspiration!

I'm an overproducer

2009-02-17T13:15:00.003-05:00

When I first started to nurse Ayden, I had a problem producing enough milk. After working with two very awesome lactation consultants at Theda Clark, I started to take herbal supplements to increase my supply. Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle are both known to stimulate milk production and they did the trick for me.

Now, 4 1/2 years later, I seem to be having the exact opposite problem. I am making way too much milk. On an average day I pump 72 ounces (18 ounces, 4 times a day) and sweet baby Ava only drinks 24-28 ounces. I'm freezing a lot of breastmilk. Actually, I now have about 600 bags of frozen breastmilk and I'm running out of room. Not only am I having storage issues, but I'm constantly in a state of discomfort. My goal is to pump only 24 ounces per day, but at this point I'm not against quiting altogether. It's not like I don't have a 4 month supply sitting in the freezer!

So after some research and okaying it with the lactation consultants at Piedmont, I'm going to start by drinking 3-6 cups of peppermint tea every day (this shows I'm desperate because I don't like tea). If the tea doesn't do the trick, they've also recommended trying sage capsules and antihistamines (Benadryl). I'll let you know how it goes

Sorry for getting so personal, but it's been something I've needed to get off my chest...ha ha ha. Get it? I crack myself up!

Update: After telling my boss about my game plan, she pulled out an entire box of organic peppermint tea from her drawer! I'm on my first cup of tea and I have to admit that it's not horrible tasting. Hopefully it works...

Cupcakes Galore

2009-02-13T12:21:00.007-05:00

I love cupcakes. I love to bake them, decorate them and eat them...even just look at them. I really wanted to bake some cupcakes for Valentine's Day this year, but unfortunately we didn't get around to it. So for this week's Inspiration Wednesday (2 days late but who's counting) it's all about the cupcake!

Check out this book for fabulous recipes and decorating tips for cookies, cakes and cupcakes. You can also cruise their website for an abundance of eye candy:)

Robeez may cost a fortune but aren't they totally adorable???
What little girl's wardrobe is complete without a cupcake dress??? Check out Coco Bonbon's website. They're a tad on the pricey side, but they've got great sales!Do you think people would make fun of me if I were to walk around with this adorable cupcake umbrella? And last but not least, some Valentine's Day love via cupcakes. They look too good to eat!Hopefully this inspires you to dust off your KitchenAid mixer and whip up a yummy batch of cupcakes this weekend!

Busy Little Bee

2009-02-12T14:05:00.003-05:00

It's been busy, busy, busy lately! Between doctor appointments, behavioral therapy, Valentine's Day parties, birthday parties and work there hasn't been a lot of down time. I haven't downloaded pictures since....okay, so I can't remember the last time I had time to download/edit pictures.

So this post is to say sorry to my blog readers (all 2 of you). I hope to find some time tomorrow for a proper post.

XOXO

Lots of good things to look forward to

2009-02-06T12:49:00.003-05:00

1. Warm weather! It's supposed to be in the upper 60's all weekend so we'll finally be able to get outside and do some yard work. I desperately need to go through the outside toys and get rid of a bunch of stuff.

2. Double header birthday parties. Tomorrow is Caitlin's party at one those inflatable jumpy places. They didn't have quite the response they'd been hoping for so Jameson is being allowed to tag along. Sunday is Maddie's indoor pool party at the Peachtree Dive Center. This is where Ayden takes his swim lessons so he should be more than comfortable in the water.

3. Ayden starts Level 1 swim lessons in March. He did fabulous in PreLevel 2 when daddy took him in December. I love watching his progress!

4. Soccer, soccer and more soccer. The instructor for Soccer Shots (program offered at RL) told me after the spring session that Ayden shows true talent. She advised that we get him involved the Tyrone Rec Dept's soccer league so Ayden is now registered for the Smart Soccer (designed for 3-4 year olds) program that begins 4/18. He'll have practice/games ever Tuesday and Saturday for 5 weeks. I'm not sure who's more excited...Ayden, me or Mimi! If he does well, he can join the 5 year old league in the fall.

5. The first annual Diva's Scrap Retreat. Two full days (5/2-5/3) of scrapping, eating, drinking and laughing with 4 of my favorite women is definitely something to get excited about. Each one of us will be teaching a class and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

6. As usual, I always look forward to my children's birthdays. Jameson will be 3 in May, Ayden will be 5 in August and sweet baby Ava turns 1 in November.

6. It's a long ways away, but I'm seriously looking forward to Christmas this year for 2 main reasons. It will be Ava's first Christmas (I don't count last year since she was only a month old) and we'll be celebrating in Orlando. Yes, we're making another family trip to Disney with Mimi and Bumpa. It sort of breaks my rule about being away from home for Christmas, but I think we can make an exception for Mickey Mouse!

Do you have anything that you're looking forward to in 2009?

Inspiration Wednesday...a day late

2009-02-05T09:08:00.011-05:00

I had so much fun last week cruising around checking out some of the fabulous eye candy out there! Besides, roaming from site to site is about all I can actually do while spending 30 minutes (twice a day) pumping in my office. So here's what I've found today....

I simply love these prints. Yes, I can buy them for $25, but I'd much rather make them myself. I'll include the link though because I'll probably end up not making anything due to lack of free time and I want to remember where the heck I saw them.

How flippin awesome is this? Anything that has to do with preserving my children's lives just gives me tingles. I still remember how excited I would be every time I lost another tooth!

I don't understand my fascination with mobiles lately, but this one is also calling out my name. You can buy it here from Pottery Barn Kids (it's even on sale!), but I'd love to find a way to make it on my own.

I'm thinking about participating in this in April.

My mom and Chere made these two projects while attending the Ultimate Scrapbook Cruise in January. Karen Russel is selling them on her blog...I may have to whip out the credit card for this one.

I absolutely love this phrase....can't remember where I read it though. "Champagne and orange juice go together like a lens cap and camera". It must of been on some photographer's website. Thinking about taking pictures while sipping mimosas make me happy.

Thinking about "going green" but dislike the reusable bags for sale at Publix and Target? Take a look at these cuties! At $29.95 (for a set of 3), they're pretty reasonable! Okay, that's probably enough for one day. Well, I'm sorta done pumping too. More eye candy will be available next Wednesday.

Keepin' It Real

2009-02-04T14:51:00.003-05:00

12:30am - Pump
3:30am - Ava wakes up for a bottle
4:30am - After more snuggle time than normally necessary, Ava goes back to bed and I pump
5:00am - Hop in shower. Okay, so I didn't exactly hop...it was more of a crawl
6:00am - Pack up bottles, wipes and change of clothes for Ava, breast pump for me and backpacks for the boys
6:30am - Wake up boys with a sippy of juice and Flinstone gummy vitamin. With minimal amount of screaming from Jameson, both boys get dressed and brush their teeth
7:00am - Get the boys shoes and coats on (it was only 16 degrees out this morning!) and shove them out the door to get in the truck
7:10am - Ava is up, diaper changed, dressed and in her carseat
7:30am - All kids are dropped off at Royal Learners and I'm on my way to work
8:00am - Pull into parking lot and make my way across the park
8:30am - Pump
12:00pm - Freeze my ass off while walking across the street to work out
1:00pm - Freeze my ass off while walking back across the street
1:15pm - Pump (note to self - pump before working out)
3:00pm - Realize I'm totally exhausted and decide to take a break to blog

What's in store for the evening?

Pick up kids, go home to pump and make dinner, give all 3 kids a bath, practice alphabet flashcards with Ayden, get boys in bed by 7:30, clean up the kitchen, do a few loads of laundry, awe heck...let's pump again, give Ava a bottle and snuggle, wash bottles and finally pour myself into bed.

Just keepin' it real

Inspiration Wednesday

2009-01-28T09:12:00.010-05:00

Wow. It seems like I have been surrounded by yummy visual goodness this entire week (yes, I realize it's only Wednesday) and I just have to share some of my favorites!

I think I heard the angels singing when I saw this! I'd love to do something similar for Ava's room.

Calling all moms and Mimis! Have you seen this website?

When I see this apron, it makes me want to whip up a yummy batch of brownies. I must have it! Check out the website here.

I still think that I want to take this class. It's self-paced via an instant download and only costs $12. What a bargain!

I love, love, love this necklace. You can buy the supplies and get the directions on how to make it from this website. The final cost is only $15...who can pass that up??? I love the idea of making some of my own jewelry so this website will definitely come in handy!!

This photo makes me want to organize my scrap area. It's a total mess right now and not from scrapping. This is the "dumping" place. Don't know where to put something??? Oh, just "dump" it over in my scrap area!

Have you seen any great visual inspirtion lately?

Embracing My Life

2009-01-23T09:22:00.004-05:00

Always

leave enough

room

in your

life

to do something

that makes you

happy,

satisfied

or even joyous.

-Paul Hawken

I love this quote! It reminds me that even though I enjoy spending time with my family, a little "me time" is also necessary to keep the balance. I think that a trip to the park with the boys on Saturday and some quality scrapping time and possible photo shoot of Ava on Sunday would definitely make me feel happy, satisfied and joyous!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

6 Random Things

2009-01-22T10:12:00.003-05:00

I've been tagged by Debra (my mom) at Georgia Rectors with a meme.

Here are the rules:

Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
Let each person know that they were been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Okay, here it goes...

1. I simply can not function without a routine. I need to know where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be doing at all times. Without my routine, nothing will get done. I swear it's like my brain just shuts down.

2. Jason was the first and only guy I dated after moving back to Wisconsin in 2000. We met at my cousin's birthday party an entire month before I moved from Chicago. The day of my big move he called to ask me out and we were together only 4 months before he proposed. This year will be our 8th wedding anniversary!

3. I can pick up almost anything with my toes and I can roll my tongue but I can't wink.

4. I'm a list maker. I make lists for just about everything. I even have lists to manage my lists. I know...pathetic!

5. I would love, love, love to own a beach house. Maybe when we win the lottery....

6. If I could have plastic surgery on one part of my body, I'd choose my breasts. Nursing/pumping for three children has definitely taken it's toll on the girls. I just want them put back where they belong...is that too much to ask for???

Here's where I now have a problem. My mom tagged almost everyone I know who has a blog, so I'm only tagging my sister.

Kelly at Half Dozen

My 2009 Word

2009-01-20T13:25:00.002-05:00

Do you remember this post from last year? All I can say is that I failed...big time. I did absolutely nothing to simplify my life in '08. In fact, a lot of things happened that only complicated it more!

1. Pregnancy (which turned out to be a totally awesome thing, but being pregnant isn't always easy)
2. Jameson's behavior/speech problems
3. Moving Jameson to Royal Learners (which also turned out to be a totally awesome thing, but the transition was killer)
4. Getting Ayden used to wearing glasses
5. Studying for and taking the CPP exam...sure am glad that's over!

There's so much more but I won't continue to bore you.

So when we rang in the new year, I thought I would give up on having a "word" for 2009. Why add more pressure to my life? But then I realized that even though I failed at simplifying my life, I wouldn't trade it for the world. And then I knew what my 2009 "word" just had to be....

Embrace

I'm going to embrace my life instead of trying to change it. Every person goes through struggles in life. When I think about what some of the people in this country are facing right now, I realize I need to embrace all of the positive things in my life.

1. My family - I love my husband and he loves me. He's a fantastic provider, husband, father and friend. I have three beautiful children who keep me entertained 24/7. They drive me nuts, they make me laugh and they can bring tears to my eyes with just one sweet hug and kiss.
2. My job - I'm employed by a wonderful organization and in these times of economic turmoil I am grateful for even receiving a paycheck.
3. My health - I have Lupus but fortunately it does not control my life and I know that it could be so much worse. My doctor loves to inform me that I'm one of the lucky ones.
4. My friends - I may not have a ton of friends but I believe in quality not quantity. The friends that I have are loyal, honest and devoted. If I ever truly needed anything, they would all be there for me...even the Wisconsinites.

I will continue to experience both ups and downs...that's just a part of life. In 2009 I want to embrace both the good and the bad. In the end, the challenges make me a better person and the joys make it all worthwhile. So if you see me complain too much this year, be sure to remind me of my '09 word!!

What about the rest of you? Did you have a "word" for 2008? Did you succeed, fail or end up somewhere in between? Has anyone chosen a word for 2009?

I miss her

2009-01-19T09:07:00.003-05:00

Today is Ava's first day in the nursery at Royal Learners. I don't actually go back to work until tomorrow, but I thought it would be nice to have a "me" day. Now that she's actually gone, all I want to do is go get my baby. I miss her so much! I guess that it's better I'm doing this today instead of tomorrow though. Bawling my eyes out at work is much more embarrassing than bawling my eyes out at home.

So what am I going to do with all of my free time today (sniff, sniff, sniff)? I just took a uninterrupted shower. In 15 minutes I'm going to pump without one of my precious babies needing something from me. Then I'm heading down to Newnan. I have to stop off at Ulta, Old Navy and Kohls. I won't have to lug in a stroller/carseat combo or a diaper bag. I also won't be searching for the boys underneath one of the numerous clothing racks. I'll have lunch with my mom and then return home to pump again. I plan on spending the rest of my afternoon cleaning the house.

Who am I kidding? It took me almost an hour to type this post because I keep staring at the clock...is it time to pick up Ava yet???

All of these were taken last week...our baby girl was 7 weeks old on Friday!

Current Stuff

2009-01-15T21:18:00.003-05:00

1. I've got 5 dogs in my house right now and 1 pile of crap. I have no idea who to yell at.
2. Jason is working out of town. 5 dogs + 3 kids - Jason = crazy house
3. I miss my parents. I can't wait until they get back from their cruise on Saturday!
4. I'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. At least Ava is coming with me.
5. I got rid of half of the toys in the boys' room yesterday. Their room no longer looks like a miniature Toys R Us.
6. I have to count out 100 peanut M&M's to celebrate Ayden's 100th day of school tomorrow. I swear that his teacher comes up with this stuff to make life more difficult for us parents.
7. I love finding people on Facebook. I just reunited with an old friend from elementary school tonight!
8. I still smell dog crap. There must be more somewhere in this house...
9. I hope my Lupus tests come back with good news and it's just my arthritis acting up right now.
10. Ava is still wearing newborn clothes. I can't wait until she's finally into her 0-3 months stuff!

The one who started it all

2009-01-09T08:39:00.006-05:00

After Jason and I got married in 2001, we wanted to start a family right away. We tried to get pregnant for 2 years and ended up thinking that something may be wrong with one or both of us. Then the unexpected happened. My lupus had been in remission for 9 years and out of the blue I was in a full blown flare. My specialist advised us to not get pregnant during a flare but Jason and I were not concerned...we had been trying to get pregnant for some time now without success so there was no way I was going to turn up pregnant now. Ayden - 6 months
Ayden - 1 year

I went in for my routine "girlie exam" right after Christmas in 2003. Because I couldn't recall when my last period was (they were always a little on again-off again), they made me take a pregnancy test. I remember thinking it was such a waste of time and was actually annoyed at my doctor. Imagine my surprise when she walked in the door to tell me that I was pregnant! I almost fell off the exam table!! All through out my pregnancy, my Lupus continued to improve despite my specialist predicting worse case scenario. I never experienced morning sickness or any other typical pregnancy problems. If it weren't for my expanding belly, I would never have known that I was pregnant. Ayden - 2 years

Ayden - 3 years

On August 18th, 2004 I gave birth to Ayden Steven. He was beautiful and we were so excited to finally be parents. It was an easy delivery and Ayden proved to be a very easy baby. We have been through many stages with Ayden and with each one I'm convinced it's the end of the world. We were doomed to never make it through the biting stage and I would cry my eyes out at work because I was convinced that nothing could be worse. Surprisingly, we were on to a new stage about 1 month later and then that became the worse thing ever. When I look back at it all, he may go through the typical stages of childhood but they're short lived and easy to get through.

Ayden - 4 years

Right now Ayden is in the Pre-K program at Royal Learners and is doing fantastic. He participates in the karate, soccer and playball programs as well. He loves it...all of it! He loves to learn and I get so excited every night to hear about what they're working on. Ayden is our squishy little 4 year old. He's super sensitive and can easily get his feelings hurt simply by having mommy or daddy upset with him. I love that he still has his baby fat. I love that he lets me kiss him as much as I want. I love that he is such a chatter box. I love that his imagination seems to constantly be working at high speed. I love that he can be so loving and such a helpful brother. Ayden is a such a wonderful little boy and I enjoy being his mommy every day. Ayden - Thanksgiving 2008

Our Middle Child

2009-01-08T10:14:00.005-05:00

I think since Jameson was born he just knew that he would someday be a middle child. At least that would explain most of his behavior issues. We were all very concerned about how Jameson would handle having another baby in the family. I had nightmares of him poking Ava in the eyes, dragging her across the floor by her legs, pushing her off the couch and hitting her in an attempt to gain access to my lap. Jason and I were both prepared for the worse. I like to remind everyone that since joining Ayden at Royal Learners, we have seen some major improvements in Jameson. He has been sleeping in his own bed for quite some time now without complaint. He is starting to show more remorse when he does something wrong...especially if it causes pain (hitting, kicking...etc.). We still struggle in the mornings with drop offs at school, but he quickly gets over being upset and snuggles up to Ms Heather all day.

This week is huge for us. We're starting the potty training process again. We had started potty training while at Marguerite's but it came to an abrupt halt when we moved to RL. Monday was horrible. He had temper tantrums every time he was put on the potty and he had accident after accident until he was out of clean clothes some time around noon. Heather and I were completely discouraged, but decided to keep up the fight. Amazingly, Jameson was accident free on Tuesday and wasn't bothered at all when Ms Heather took him to the potty every 20 minutes. Wednesday went even better because instead of being told to go potty, he voluntarily used the toilet when he had to go and again was accident free.

This morning Jameson surprised me yet again. I was trying to get the boys ready for school while baby Ava rested on the couch. After kicking her legs around for a good 10 minutes, she was bored and started to get fussy. I was getting Ayden's shoes on and looked over to find Jameson stroking Ava's tummy in a loving way and "talking" to her with a soft voice. I praised Jameson for being such a good brother and he simply turned around, gave me a beaming smile and went back to loving on his sister. Because of him, Ava calmed down and gave me the time I needed to finish up with Ayden. My heart just about burst with all the love and pride I felt at that moment.

Despite being a middle child, I think Jameson is handling himself very well. He's still a typical two year old with lots of attitude and spunk but I think that's what makes him so much fun. One minute he'll chastise me for helping him with his dinner and the next he's snuggled up on my lap while sucking his thumb. I still love to crawl into bed with him in the morning because he lets me wrap my arms around him and give as many kisses as I want. But when snuggle time is over, he's back to tearing up the house in typical Jameson style. We love him for his sweetness, his sassiness and his unpredictability. He keeps us on our toes and we're constantly wondering what he'll get into next.

We love you little man!

What we do all day

2009-01-07T10:44:00.007-05:00

After waking up, Ava gets her diaper changed. She poops a lot! Ava loves to be swaddled. If she goes to bed without being swaddled, she just doesn't sleep very well.

After being swaddled, it's time for a yummy bottle. Ava drinks anywhere from 4-6 ounces. After every 2 ounces she'll spit her bottle out which is how we know that she's ready for a burp.

She's exhausted after her breakfast and is ready for nap #1. She'll sleep for about 3-4 hours and we'll repeat the process all over again.What do I do after putting Ava down in her crib? I pump! It became very painful to both pump and nurse Ava after she was released from the NICU. I was producing waaaay more than she was consuming so I kept getting clogged up. After many frustrating weeks of trying to do both, I decided to stick to pumping and bottle feeding. Below you see 12 ounces of breast milk that I pumped out this morning...I'm a total overproducer!So what do we do with all of the extra milk? We freeze it. Unfortunately, we're running out of space. This is one of the bins of the freezer inside the house. It's packed.

So is the top shelf.So is the freezer in the garage!It's a good thing that we also have a chest freezer. Jason just threw away everything last night and gave it a good cleaning with bleach water. Now I have plenty of room for more frozen breast milk.

How much have we stored up so far? We have over 200 bags of frozen breast milk with approximately 6 ounces in each bag. I'm starting to feel like a cow!

So now you know how we spend our day...eating, pooping, sleeping and pumping!

Baby Girl

2009-01-05T12:04:00.002-05:00

Here's a layout that I did yesterday at Scrap Club. I didn't want to clutter up the front with a date, but the pictures are of Ava at 5 weeks.

I'm back...sort of

2009-01-05T09:56:00.003-05:00

I'm working on getting back to some sort of routine. During the past three weeks, I have been consumed by out of town guests, the holidays, family illnesses and a brand new baby. To say that life has been hectic would be an understatement. Today is a brand new day in a brand new year though and I'm digging myself out of the fog.

I'll be back later with family updates, but I want to leave you with a picture of the boys that was taken at school with Santa. I love this picture! After I get some more recent pictures edited (hopefully today) I'll have a much larger post with all of the Payne family happenings.

So In Love

2008-12-12T09:17:00.004-05:00

Yes, our entire family is totally in love with baby Ava who is 2 weeks old today. Jason and I brought our sweet baby girl home on Monday and I've spent the week just taking her in. After 10 days in the NICU/NICU2/Intermediate Nursery, she has been receiving lots of hugs and kisses from all of us.

Ava is such a good baby. She rarely cries and I have to wake her up to eat. Since we brought her home, she's been sleeping in her crib. She has "awake time" about twice a day which lasts for about an hour. During this time, she's content to lounge in my arms or kick her legs while laying on a blanket. She eats every 3 hours via both bottle and breast. Because of her size, nursing is a huge chore for her. She's actually very good at nursing but gets tired easily so we follow up with a bottle of breast milk. I can't get over how easy going she is! We went to see Dr. Goza (pediatrician) on Wednesday and she had gained 4oz since coming home on Monday. We're almost back to her birth weight which is extremely impressive since she lost a total of 10oz during the first 5 days in the NICU.

I promise to post more pictures soon, but we're heading up to the hospital today to pick up my short term disability paperwork. Since we'll be right across the street from the Viking Store, we'll pop in to see how the Central Services Holiday Outing is going.

BTW - Both the birthmark on her forehead and under her nose will go away within her first year. Ayden had the exact same birthmark on his forehead!

Have a great weekend!

Feed Me!

2008-12-04T16:03:00.003-05:00

It's been a couple of eventful days in the NICU for Ava. Yesterday I was able to hold my baby for the first time since after her delivery last Friday. It felt so good to hold her, to touch her and to kiss her as much as I wanted...well for at least 45 minutes. Ava's jaundice level increased slightly so they were trying to keep her under the Bily Light as much as possible. The doctor had also doubled the amount of breast milk they were feeding her through the line in her mouth. All great progress! Last night when Jason called to check in on her, she was still doing great.

I went in for my usual noon visit today to find the Bily Light gone. Ava's color looked great and they had been waiting for me to come in for her very first bottle. This was a huge deal! We were about to see if she could handle taking in food on her own. Because they were worried about the choking potential, Ava's nurse was going to give her the bottle. Ava looked like a little bird waiting in the nest for mom to bring back food. Her mouth was wide open...like she just new what was coming. She downed an ounce with passion, only choking a few times. Both times she gave a little cough and took care of the matter on her own. Very impressive! We got many good burps as well. After her bottle was gone, it was snuggle time. Ava immediately fell asleep in my arms, comfortable with mommy and content with a full belly. I couldn't put her down and luckily our nurse is very accommodating.

Yummy! Give me more!!

Burp, burp, burp

Hmmm....a full belly feels so good!

A good nap was definitely in order after sucking down that bottle.

See the line going into her belly button and the one going into her mouth? They both should be gone when I go visit our angle tomorrow at noon!

Shortly before leaving I found out that Ava was being moved to NICU2 at 2:30pm. Once there, I'll be able to hold her and feed her much more. But the best news of all was that if she continues to do well with her feedings, our baby girl might be home before the end of the weekend! Keep your fingers crossed!!

Ava Update

2008-12-02T16:00:00.002-05:00

Last night before going to bed, I called the NICU to check on Ava one last time. We received a bit of good news. Her oxygen level was down to 27% from the 36% it had been during my noon visit. The doctor in the NICU yesterday told me that on average, it takes about 96 hours for a baby's oxygen level to stabilize (21% is the target). Once it's stable, the oxygen hood can be removed. Jason and I went to bed very excited about Ava's progress.

Today I walked into the NICU for my noon visit to find the oxygen hood removed from Ava's bed. I assumed it was because they were changing her diaper or drawing some blood. Imagine my excitement when today's doctor informed me that they were "experimenting". Ava's oxygen level had dropped low enough and remained stable throughout the night so they had decided to remove the hood and see how she would do without it. Without the plastic covering her, I was able to touch her. I was able to caress her cheeks and give kisses. We can't hold her yet, but after 3 days of only being able to touch her toes I was more than happy with the gift I had just been given. Then the nurse came back with a little syringe with about a tablespoon of my breast milk in it and asked if I wanted to "feed" my daughter. The syringe was inserted into the small tube going into her mouth and I simply held it up so my milk would go down through the tube. I guess it wasn't your typical feeding, but again I was excited to be part of this first feeding. They didn't stick with the normal 15 minutes of touch time today. I spent over an hour in the NICU today! With any luck, Ava will remain stable without the oxygen hood and they'll move her to the intermediate nursery tomorrow. I can't wait to hold my baby girl again!

Welcome Ava!

2008-11-30T19:48:00.003-05:00

Things definitely did not go according to plans on Friday. We finally headed to the hospital around 11am when my contractions were still 5 minutes apart but getting more painful. Once I got changed into a gown, we found out I was only dilated 3cm. Instead of sending me home, they suggested I walk around for about an hour and they would check me again. After an hour of wandering around, I was dilated to 4cm. They decided to break my water and give my an epidural. After another hour of waiting and watching TV, we were at 7cm. Another hour went by and they put in a catheter to relieve my bladder. That was all it took...without a full bladder Ava was ready to come out. And do I mean ready! Dr. Rogers didn't even have me wait for a contraction because her head was already half out. Two pushes and there she was!

After some snuggle time with mommy and daddy, they gave her a bath and did the routine tests. Her nurse decided Ava's breathing was a little on the fast side and she seemed to have some fluid left in her lungs so she was taken to the intermediate nursery. After a couple hours of observation, Ava was moved to the NICU to take a closer look at her lungs. The end result is that her lungs are about 2-3 weeks underdeveloped. Worse case scenario is that Ava will be spending the next couple of weeks in the NICU, but she could improve even sooner. There is nothing else wrong with her health and apparently underdeveloped lungs are quite common...even in full term babies.

It's been an emotional couple of days for us and leaving the hospital today without our baby was definitely not easy. I'm pumping every 2 hours to make sure she gets plenty of milk once she's off the glucose IV. I'll be visiting her every day at noon for "touch time" and to hear the latest from the doctor. Once she's downgraded to NICU 2, we can hold her and feed her.

One thing keeping me sane is being home with the boys. Some sort of normal routine is needed so that I can keep my mind busy. I'm sure it would be easy to fall into some sort of depression, but that would be ridiculous. Ava is in excellent hands, is staying stable and will be home before we know it.

So here's what you've all been waiting for!

Ava Marie Payne

Born: 11/28/08 at 5:37pm

Weight: 5lb 11oz

Height: 19 1/2 inches

The Waiting Game

2008-11-28T05:10:00.003-05:00

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post but things have been busy around here. Besides going out to see Twilight last weekend, I stayed home to clean, clean, clean. Jason built the valances for Ava's room and my grandmother's painting got hung above the crib. There are still a few more accessories that I'd like to get, but at least everything is about 90% done for her arrival.

On Monday, I had an ultrasound and an OB appointment. The ultrasound went great. Ava gained another pound so her estimated weight was now 6 1/2lbs. She should be around 7lbs by now...especially after the way I ate yesterday! The rest of my day was spent finishing up projects at work.

Tuesday morning Jameson had his second session with the behavioral therapist. Ms Monique pointed out again that Jameson really doesn't qualify for the Babies Can't Wait Program and said our case would probably be closed out in 3-4 months. It makes me feel good that Jameson's behavior isn't that bad but I'm still grateful that they're helping us make better decisions with him. Now that we've got the knowledge, Jason and I have to work on using the skills we've been given and stay consistent. It's actually much more difficult than I thought, but we're already starting to see a change in Jameson so it keeps us motivated.

Wednesday was just a normal day at the office...NOT! I came in armed with a list that I had made throughout the night of all the things that still needed to get done. I worked in a sort of frenzied state all day. Typically, the Chamber employees get sent home early the day before a holiday but I already knew I'd put in a full day to get everything done. The thought that it could be me last day before having a baby had me panicked. I think I've mentioned before that I really like my job and am sort of "protective" of it. I wanted everything to be in order before someone else has to come in and fill my shoes. As predicted, I worked until 4:15 and then headed home to pick up the boys.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving day! I was sooooo excited about the meal that my mom was preparing. All of my favorites were on the menu and some new things as well. Jason and I spent the morning getting a few things done around the house while the boys played outside. After 2 weeks of cooler weather, yesterday's high was around 65 degrees so they were in heaven! After lunch and naps, we packed up a laundry basket of necessities for the boys and headed over to Mimi & Bumpa's house. After Ayden and Jameson played bubbles and drove their new Polaris Razor it was finally time for dinner. My plate was full and I indulged in a glass of wine. After dinner, we sat outside by the fireplace and watched the boys play with some glow necklaces that Bumpa pulled out. After a helping of my Double Chocolate Cheesecake, Jason and I got the boys in their PJ's. We had our fingers crossed that Jameson would be okay sleeping at Mimi & Bumpa's. He's only 2 1/2 and has never spent a night away from us. With Jameson settled in Mimi's room watching Scooby Doo and Ayden tucked away in the den watching Transformers with Bumpa, Jason and I made our escape. Since we didn't get a phone call to pick Jameson up, I'm assuming all went well.

Today is Friday. It's supposed to be the day we have Ava. I got up promptly at 5am and sucked down a tablespoon of castor oil. Despite the bottle promising the goo inside to be be odorless and tasteless, it still tasted like crap. It took all my effort to not throw the stuff back up! I'm taking a quick few minutes to blog and then I'll shower and finish packing my bag. I'd also like to finish cleaning up the kitchen, get a few more loads of laundry done and take another trip around the house with the vacuum. Hopefully by 10am we'll be making our way to the hospital. If all goes according to plan, I'll be back home some time tomorrow with a another baby to love and cherish.

I sure hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving! We'll keep you posted on "Operation Get Baby The Heck Out of Mommy"!

Ava Marie

2008-11-21T17:51:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pictures of the painting my grandmother made for Ava. Jason has promised to hang the painting up for me this weekend and also make the valances for over her windows. Once those two things are complete, I'll take some pictures of her nursery.

Random Wednesday

2008-11-19T08:35:00.003-05:00

1. It was only 22 degrees outside this morning when I left to drop the boys off at school. Brrrrrr!

2. Gas is down to $1.81 at some stations! We're paying about $75 less per week than we were just two short months ago.

3. I really like my new haircut. Cassie cut 5 inches off the length and layered me up. I love how a simple haircut makes me such a happier mommy!

4. It hit me last night that I could possibly only have six days of work left before I go on maternity leave. I think that deserves a little Amen.

5. The other night Ayden didn't want to eat his dinner. The excuse? "Mommy. If I eat anymore my tummy will get a headache." I gave him an 8 for creativity and then sent him to daddy for bathtime.

6. I love Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite holidays! I think it's got something to do with the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, flaky layer biscuits and dessert. Does anyone else hear angels singing right now or is it just me?

7. I get super freaked out when someone else has to do my job. As much as I'm looking forward to 8 weeks off with our new baby, I really don't care for the way my backup does my job while I'm gone. He hasn't had to help out since my maternity leave with Jameson so he's getting a refresher course this week. I'm about to kill him.

8. My pay increase for passing the CPP exam is "on hold". Apparently the Chamber is in the middle of a pay increase freeze due to the economy and even though this is something that was promised to me in 2007 and I worked my butt off for over a year on it....and passed, I'm getting screwed. And even though the president wrote a nice personal note stating that it has nothing to do with my job performance and he looks at me as a valuable asset/leader for our organization...blah, blah, blah...I still want to poke his eyes out.

9. Jameson is still sleeping in his own bed through the night. Along with the new haircut, this makes me an even happier mommy!

10. I'm not sure why I saved this one for last. Maybe it's because I find it difficult to explain my feelings about it...okay, here goes. I have had no contact with my grandmother (my mom's mom) in over 12 years besides the Christmas cards I continue to send every winter. The story as to why I have no contact with her is long and complicated (and mostly my mom's) but I will say that it's her choice, not ours. So imagine my surprise when she emails me out of the blue to tell me that she has sent me something in the mail. This woman is a very talented artist...even at 82 years old...so I knew it would be something she had painted. I was completely floored and emotionally overwhelmed last night when I opened the box to find a large, beautifully framed painting of a little girl with angel wings sitting in a garden holding a butterfly. It was titled "Ava Marie" and was indeed painted by my grandmother. There are about a million emotions running through me because of this painting. Jason and I were waiting for that perfect "something" to hang over our daughter's crib and this is exactly what we were waiting for.

Day by Day

2008-11-17T16:36:00.003-05:00

Today Ava and I saw the OB for a check up and NST. I was a little surprised to find out that I'm contracting more often than I thought. What I took as just pressure from Ava moving around is actually contraction. Interesting. They also tested me for GBS (vaginal strep) which I tested positive for during both of my other pregnancies. Normally this is treated with an IV antibiotic during labor, but I deliver so quickly that I never got it with the boys.

The end result of this check up is that Ava is doing great, I'm doing great and I could go into labor any day. They're going to check if I'm dilated next week Monday after my ultrasound with Dr. K and we'll we'll have another NST. They keep bringing up a possible induction for the week after Thanksgiving (due to Ava's size starting to take a toll on my kidneys), but I'm just taking it day by day.

We'll keep you posted!

Jameson Update

2008-11-13T11:47:00.004-05:00

Jameson's behavior evaluation went very well on Monday. There was a therapist and our coordinator at our house for over an hour asking questions and observing Jameson. Basically what we learned is that Jameson is off the charts intelligent, strong willed and requires constant stimulation. Most of his behavioral problems come from a lack of stimulation and/or the need for attention. Basically he doesn't qualify for the program but because they are concerned about his interaction with his new baby sister and he'll only be in the program for 6 months (Babies Can't Wait only works with children 3 and under), they qualified him anyway.

Jameson's therapist's name is Monique and apparently she totally rocks. They've planned for 16 therapy sessions that in the end are more for me and Jason rather than for Jameson. She is going to show us how to cut out the bad behavior through new parenting techniques. I'm all for it! They plan on observing him a few times at Royal Learners as well. Before they left, we received a few tidbits of advice. So far so good.

Jameson has slept in his bed...through the night...without me laying down with him...for the past 4 nights. He has also sat through dinner and finished his meal for the past 3 nights. This is a record! Now we need to work his aggressive behavior...hitting, yelling and temper tantrums. It's so nice to know that with a little patience and hard work, our sweet baby Jameson will be doing much better in just 6 months.

Even though we may not see it yet, there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel and we're working our way towards it. We thank everyone for their love, support and concern.

The Game Plan

2008-11-11T10:27:00.004-05:00

1. Estimated weight is 5lbs 7oz
2. Baby has dropped so low in my pelvis that at first they couldn't find her head. I had to push my pants down to my thighs!
3. I'm experiencing sharp shooting pain all of the time. It hurts to sit, bend and pee.
4. Contractions are becoming more painful and last longer.
5. I see Dr. McSwain on the 17th for check up and NST
6. I see both Dr. K and Dr. M on the 24th. They're going to check if I'm dilated and another NST. 7. I'm supposed to see both Dr. K and Dr. M on the 1st to decide on possible induction.

As long as Ava is around 6 1/2lbs on the 24th (and I haven't already gone into labor), I'm going to take castor oil on the 28th. I refuse to be induced and it's only 3 days away from being full term. Close enough.

So that's the game plan.

Friday Goodies

2008-11-07T08:17:00.003-05:00

I am so happy today is Friday...it's been a long week. I say that every week and every week I mean it. Fridays make me happy, especially now that Jason's big projects have come to a close and we have weekends together as a family. So here's some things that are making me happy today.

1. Even though I haven't been posting my progress, I've been staying on top of our A Week In The Life project. Wednesday I didn't do so well but I managed to get a few meaningful pictures taken during the day. Can't wait to work on assembling everything. I definitely learned something during this project though...it's not about the quality of the photos, it's about getting the photo. Most of my pictures are blurry or where taken in horrible lighting and it really doesn't bother me because I can still tell what was going on in that moment. That's what this project is all about to me.

2. Had fun last night taking the boys to Spirit Night at Taylor Made Tumbling for school. Jason followed Jameson around and I kept track of Ayden. It was insane, but the boys had a ton of fun.

3. I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow at 2pm. I haven't had a haircut since January 21st and it's about time! I have no idea what I want to do so if I find some time today, I'll cruise the internet looking for inspiration.

4. Mimi and Bumpa are taking Ayden to see Madagascar 2 tomorrow night and then he's sleeping over. I love that he looks forward to sleepovers with my parents.

5. The trees are absolutely beautiful...finally! As I was driving in today I was mesmerized by all the different shades of red and yellow. I love fall. It is definitely the most beautiful season.

6. I'm taking a vacation day on Monday. Not because I plan on sitting on my rear doing nothing, but it's going to be a good day. Ava has a photoshoot at 8am and then Jameson has his behavioral evaluation at 10am. Afterwards we're going to set up our plan/goals with the therapist. I'm so excited to have a game plan...something positive to work towards with Jameson instead of feeling lost and confused all of the time.

7. This goes along with #6, but Jason is taking the day off as well. After we drop Jameson off at school, we're going to go have an adult lunch and maybe see a movie. We desperately need some "us" time. If taking some time off from work is how we need to get it accomplished, then so be it.

8. I'm getting excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love the holidays. I love the traditions. I love spending time with my family. This year I really love that we'll have a new baby to enjoy all of these things with. Ava is going to complete our family and I feel so blessed that we get to share our life with her.

Well, that's about it. Despite contractions, exhaustion and swollen ankles; I'm one happy mommy this Friday!

So Cool!

2008-11-06T12:59:00.005-05:00

I love 80's rock and current country. Seriously, how different could those two styles of music possibly be? Mixing up some Journey, Taylor Swift, Def Leppard, Keith Urban, Boston and Carrie Underwood makes me a very happy girl.

So you can only imagine how excited I was to hear on the radio this morning that the next episode of CMT's Crossroads will feature Taylor Swift and Def Leppard!!! I was full of tingles when they played a clip from Photograph with Taylor Swift singing the famous lyrics. I've never actually watched Crossroads before but I certainly plan on programming my DVR for tomorrow night at 9pm.

If you're a fan of either one, check out this video from tomorrow night's show! I've been watching it all day...can't wait for the rest!!!

Maybe I'm Just Selfish

2008-11-05T13:44:00.004-05:00

Obviously, everyone is talking about our next president. The Chamber consists of mostly republican employees so there isn't a whole lot of celebrating going on in the halls today.

But I'm celebrating and it's not because Obama will be our 44th president. I'm celebrating because Jameson had his speech evaluation today and I couldn't happier with the outcome. Maybe I'm being selfish, but my family is always my first concern and Jameson trumps our new president.

So, here's the outcome of today's evaluation:

1. Yes, Jameson does seem to have a speech delay but it's not significant enough to qualify for the Babies Can't Wait program. The therapist said that Jameson's delay could be a result of so many ear infections and that our pediatrician is notorious for delaying tubes and ENT referrals.

2. While Jameson doesn't qualify for speech therapy, Wanda did see some behavioral problems while at the house. Not a behavioral disorder, but definite problems. When my focus was taken away from Jameson, he would lay on the floor and kick my legs or he would hit me with his stuffed frog. When I would try to reprimand him, he'd simply laugh at me like we were playing a game. She said she sees nothing that can not be corrected with a little coaching from one of their behavioral therapists. This coaching will involve both me and Jason since we need to be on the same page. Obviously what worked for Ayden is not working for Jameson and we just need to be pointed in the right direction.

3. While we investigate the usefulness of tubes at this point, we will also have the full behavioral evaluation on Monday. After that evaluation the therapist and coordinator will set some goals for Jameson and then actual therapy will start probably the following week. Despite Jameson not qualifying for the program because of a speech delay, most of their behavioral therapists also have a speech background so he'll end up getting help in both areas.

So even though the outcome of today's evaluation wasn't just that we have a typical crazy 2 year old, I feel very positive. Jason and I are going to be provided with the right tools to help our child and that is cause for celebration in my book. I'm so happy that a professional was able to witness Jameson's aggressive behavior and told me exactly what I needed to hear..."we're going to fix this".

WITL Day#1

2008-11-05T06:44:00.010-05:00

Alarm clock went off at 5am - I hit snooze twice...bad, bad, bad

Took shower and got dressed

Woke the boys up to get dressed

Got the boys stuff ready for the day - sippy cups, vitamins, cough medicine for Jameson and backpacks

Found out that in a matter of 10 minutes, they were able to trash their room before leaving for school

Out the door by 6:45am

Dropped boys off at school and left for work

It wasn't a very good traffic day so I was excited to finally see my exit

Settled into my office with a bottle of Diet Coke to get me motivated

Chick-fil-A Ice Dream with strawberries for lunch

Spent the afternoon working on SOP's in preparation for maternity leave - boring!

Left work at 4pm and headed to Royal Learners to pick up the boys

Got home and made dinner - Divine Casserole

Mimi joined us so the boys got some extra snuggles and attention.

Daddy decided we needed chocolate ice cream with sprinkles for dessert...ice cream twice in one day. Works for me!

After their bath, it was almost time for bed so the boys snuggled in for some down time.

Lights out at 7:30pm - mommy fell asleep too!

Click here for more Day#1 photos!!

33 Weeks

2008-11-04T09:06:00.004-05:00

Ava and I went to see the OB today. I took along my list of concerns:

contractions
pressure
numbness in my left hand
swollen feet but not swollen ankles
sharp shooting pain

All is normal. Yes, they're concerned that I may deliver early so they agree with Dr. Korotkin that I need to limit my walking, bending and crouching. I need to cut back on picking up/carrying Jameson. I definitely can not pick up or carry Ayden which is really not a problem because I think only daddy has the strength to pick that child up! Dr. Dozier and Dr. McSwain both think that baby Ava will be here in 3-4 weeks. I have my next OB appointment on the 17th and we'll start non-stress tests then. I see Dr. Korotkin for another photo shoot of Ava on the 10th.

Basically, we're ready. Ava's room is painted, the new flooring has been installed and the new wood blinds are up. There are fresh sheets on the crib and blankets have been washed. All of her new clothes are washed and either hanging up in the closet or put away in the dresser. We have lotions, bath wash and towels ready to go. The swing has been put together and the bassinet is ready to be put in our room if needed. The breast pump has new batteries and bottles have been washed and are in the cabinet. Diapers, baby wipes and Balmex are waiting by the changing table. Other than some putting some finishing touches on her room (I still need to find a quilt I like), we're well prepared.

BTW - Jameson has his speech evaluation tomorrow at 9am. I spoke with the therapist for some time yesterday and I'm looking forward to hearing her thoughts after the hour long evaluation. If Wanda feels it's necessary, Jameson will also be evaluated by a behavioral therapist next week Monday.

Ayden is doing extremely well with his new glasses. I spoke with his teacher yesterday when I picked the boys up and she said she can already tell a difference in Ayden's work. I'm so relieved we took care of his vision problem early!

Check back tomorrow for days 1 & 2 of A Week In The Life. I'm almost done editing yesterday's pictures and I've already taken a bunch this morning. I'm very determined to see this project through to the end!!

Thinking Ahead...

2008-11-03T10:33:00.003-05:00

Christmas is going to be a little different for us this year. I will be on unpaid maternity leave and there will be a new baby in the house. Despite these slight changes, I still love the traditions that Christmas brings and there are definitely a few of them that I'm looking forward to.

decorating the tree/mantle
making Christmas cookies
wrapping presents
writing Santa a letter with Ayden
all of the yummy food

I know it may seem crazy to be thinking about all of this since it's only November 3rd, but as I look out my window the park is full of workers setting up Christmas decorations. Christmas decorations already?!?! It does seem a bit early, but it's definitely got me thinking ahead.

So, I thought I'd share my absolute favorite sugar cookie recipe. I made these for our Central Services Holiday Outing three years in a row and everyone just LOVED them!

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 (3oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, almond and vanilla extracts and egg yolk. Beat until smooth. Stir in four until well blended. Chill the dough for 8 hours, or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/3 at a time to 1/8 inch thickness, refrigerating remaining dough until ready to use. Cut into desired shapes with lightly floured cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Leave cookies plain for frosting, or brush with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with candy sprinkles or colored sugar.
4. Bake for 7-10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light and golden brown. Cool cookies completely before frosting.

And to top everything off, I always make my favorite cream cheese frosting for decorating. I'm a frosting snob and use this recipe for everything...carrot cake, cupcakes, cookies...or to simply eat straight from the bowl.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine confectioners sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Spread onto anything...cookies, cupcakes, cake or your tongue:)

Now that I'm dying for a handful of decorated sugar cookies, I may have to see if I have a turkey or some leaves in my cookie cutter stash and make a few batches in celebration of Thanksgiving!

Enjoy!

A week in the life

2008-11-03T08:33:00.004-05:00

of the Payne family has begun. I know I should've started yesterday but I woke up in a slightly irritable mood and it stayed with me for most of the day so I really didn't want to bring my camera everywhere we went. I started this project today instead. Let me tell how NOT easy it is to document my day with a camera. So many things are rushed and I have to remind myself to slow down and take a picture. I'm psyched about this project though and am excited to some day look back and remember what our life was like at this time. I sort of think this is something I may do annually...around the same time of the year.

So how was your weekend? Our's was pretty laid back. Saturday we stayed home all day. I never changed out of my pajamas. I cleaned, did laundry and took a 2 hour nap. We did family movie night after chowing down Chinese take out. Anyone see the movie Monster House? It was great! Jameson was totally freaked out but insisted on staying with us. We kept the boys up until 10pm in hopes that they would sleep in. I should've known better. Sunday we had to run a few errands. After a $200 trip to BJ's (darn wholesale clubs!) and a quick stop at Target, I think we're stocked up on a lot of necessities for the next couple of months. After lunch at Steak n Shake, we took the scenic route home to snoop at homes for sale. Jason and love to do this. Even though we don't plan on selling our house for another 2-3 years, it's still fun to look:) The boys took much needed nap and I would have done the same if our bedding hadn't been in the washing machine.

All in all, it was a low key weekend. Barely anything got crossed off the to-do list but I wasn't really bothered.

Pirate + Chicken = Fun

2008-11-01T08:10:00.006-04:00

What a great Halloween! After a quick pit-stop at Mimi's for some photos of the boys, we headed off for trick-or-treating. Hopefully Mimi got more pictures of the actual trick-or-treating. I was kept busy making sure the boys didn't run out in the road!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T08:20:00.001-04:00

I love that Halloween is on a Friday this year. There will be no rushing through the festivities so we can get the kids home and in bed by a decent time.

For the past 2 months Ayden has said that he wants to be Batman for Halloween. Yesterday when I picked him up from school he announced that he no longer wanted to be Batman...he wanted to be a policeman. Well guess what. He's a pirate. That was the only costume left in his size at Target last night.

I'm leaving at 2pm today for Ayden's school party. I really want to go to Jameson and Ayden's parties, but once Jameson sees me in the building there will be no getting away from him. Ayden's class does the trick-or-treating at 2:30 and then their party is at 2:45. Jameson's class has their party at 2:30 and trick-or-treating at 3:30. I'll join Jameson for the tick-or-treating. He's dressed as a chicken. He makes a very cute chicken.

I wanted to bake the 35 cupcakes for their parties but didn't get around to it with daddy working late Tuesday and Wednesday. I ended up buying cupcakes from Publix last night...I feel guilty.

We're taking Mimi trick-or-treating with us tonight before she picks Bumpa up at the airport. I love it when she's along because I'm normally too busy making sure my kids don't get run over so I don't take too many pictures. She's always there with her camera ready...thanks Mimi!

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Almost There

2008-10-30T13:20:00.002-04:00

There is a possibility that baby Ava will be making her appearance even sooner than expected. Our darling daughter is in the "head down" position and has been that way for the past 3 weeks, only now her head has dropped lower into my pelvis. This is something that normally doesn't happen until 36 weeks (I was 32 weeks on Monday)! I've been experiencing some discomfort down there (pressure and sharp shooting pain) so I'm supposed to limit my walking, crouching and bending. I'm also still having about 6-10 contractions a day.

The good news is that Dr. Korotkin estimated her weight to be around 4 1/2 pounds on Monday and she's developing well. If she keeps gaining a half pound every week, she'll be at Jameson's birth weight (5lb 7oz) at 34 weeks. That's when I see Dr. Korotkin for another ultrasound. I also see Dr. McSwain (OBGYN) next Tuesday and then I'll move to weekly appointments with her. Right now, my new goal is to make it to 36 weeks (11/24). Looks like we may have a Thanksgiving baby instead of a Christmas baby!

I'm doing my best to take my doctor's advice, but when you have 2 other children to take care of it's not always easy to walk, crouch and bend less. The Chamber is kindly letting me park behind the building so that I don't have to make the 4 block walk to the parking deck. I'm trying to bring my lunch every day so I don't have to walk through CNN. Other than that, it's business as usual.

So please cross you legs (ha ha ha ... get it?) and pray that I can keep this sweet angel safely inside of me for a bit longer.

Boo at the Zoo!

2008-10-27T21:25:00.003-04:00

Boo at the Zoo was more fun than I had expected. Mimi and Bumpa were such troopers and totally got into all of the activities they had for kids. As usual, it was a fun family trip!

The boys got to meet two of their favorite characters...

Curious George

and Scooby Doo

Daddy and Jameson snuggled while waiting in line for the choo-choo train...
and Ayden killed time by sucking on a Tootsie Pop.
I liked the juggler.

What are your plans?

2008-10-24T08:08:00.012-04:00

The fact that we even have plans for the weekend is a good indicator that I'm working myself out of my funk. After our initial meeting with the coordinator at Babies Can't Wait on Wednesday and Ayden finally getting his glasses last night, I feel like progress has been made.

We bought the movie Transformers this week at Target and Jason and I have decided to implement Friday movie night at our house. We're going to eat popcorn, suck down some gummy worms, drink mass quantities of hot cocoa and watch a movie with our two munchkins!

Saturday morning 4 of the 5 divas are meeting at my mom's house so we can take a class together at Archiver's. This will replace our normally scheduled Scrap Club meeting on 11/2. After class and a nice lunch, we'll head home to our families.
Saturday evening we plan on taking the boys to Boo At The Zoo. We've never actually been to the zoo yet. Pretty pathetic. When we think about going, it's either too hot or too cold. Somehow when the weather is just right, we forget. Duh.

On Sunday (weather permitting and assuming Mimi has the time), I'd like to have our family picture taken at Starr's Mill. We go almost every year, but normally Jason is working. Now that things are slower he can't get out of the family picture thing. Ha!

Somewhere in all of that I need to clean the house, do laundry, run to BJ's for a few pallets of juice boxes, buy Ayden's Halloween costume and Jason wants to finish laying the new flooring in the hallway. Oh, and I really need to unpack the plastic tubs of baby stuff that is sitting around Ava's room right now.

Oh jeeze! I almost forgot that our wedding anniversary is on Monday!! Jason and I will be celebrating 7 years of wedded bliss. I'm not entirely sure how we're going to do the celebrating part with a 4 year old, 2 year old and a pregnant mommy but it'll probably have to wait until next weekend.

So what are your plans for the weekend?

He Can See!

2008-10-23T18:49:00.005-04:00

We were finally able to pick up Ayden's glasses tonight. Here are a few comments he made after putting them on.

Daddy! I can see betterer now!

Mommy...you look so skinny!

Ayden got chocolate ice cream for dinner after the second comment. Here's our little man in his brand new glasses...

Oops...how did that last one get in there? I was so excited that Ayden was willing to wear his glasses that I treated myself to a little cup of hot cocoa with about a million marshmallows. Any excuse for hot cocoa, right?

2008-10-23T13:05:00.007-04:00

Jason said I could quit my job so I did. After next week, I can focus all of my attention on my children, husband, house and cooking.

We're moving. A very nice couple stopped by last night and offered us $185,000 and we can't pass it up. The house that we've been drooling over out on a country road in Sharpsburg is soon to be ours. 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a full finished basement...who could ask for anything more?

Rob promised Jason that he would never have to work over 40 hours again. And gave him a nice fat pay increase. I love Jason's boss.

They invented a new Magic Eraser that works on TV screens. I can finally "erase" all of the adorable scrapes on the TV in the living room. Jameson can hit the screen as much as he wants now...mommy has her own weapon.

Ayden woke up this morning with perfect vision and Jameson started speaking in complete sentences.

Clyde has miraculously stopped peeing all over our house. This is a good thing because Jason said he would have all of the new flooring down by the time I get home tonight. Funny, I could have sworn he said it was hardwood but I thought we bought laminate.

Landmark Christian School just called and they've decided to give us a 3-for-1 deal on tuition. No matter that Ava isn't even born yet.

Oh my goodness...how could I have forgotten to mention that my parent's house finally sold? I guess that even in this time of economic peril, there are still some people out there willing to drop half a million on a beautiful home. Congrats mom and Peter!

Who said you can't dream?

Random Tuesday

2008-10-21T13:19:00.002-04:00

1. Jameson developed a fever of 103 around 4am on Saturday. It took us all weekend, but his fever finally broke Sunday night. I was convinced that the fever was because his ear infection hadn't cleared up with the first round of antibiotics so I took him back to the doctor yesterday. Ears look great but throat looks awful. We should have the results of the throat culture tomorrow.

2. Ayden's glasses should be in today or tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about them. I look forward to my baby being able to see, but it's going to be a tough adjustment during the first couple of weeks.

3. Ava's room is almost done. Jason got 2 coats of paint on walls Friday. Saturday and Sunday he tore up carpet, laid down laminate, took down old nasty blinds that came with the house and hung up new wood blinds. I'm surprised how good the laminate looks. Now all we have to do is move everything back into the room and make the window valances.

4. Jameson is not doing well with the morning drop offs at Royal Learners. I feel like a crappy mom leaving my baby screaming and crying for me as I race off to work. They told me he had a good day yesterday though and was very well behaved except for a few weepy periods. Everyone thinks he has the face of an angel and is more than willing to take him outside for special walks when he gets "sad". That child sure knows how to wrap people around his little finger!

5. I love that things have slowed down for Jason. He's been working normal days so we see daddy at night and on weekends. It's been a long 2 years of him being at Tyler Perry's beck and call so I'm enjoying every second we have together as a family before things pick up again!!!

6. I had an OB appointment today and I've been assured that my contractions and other concerns are perfectly normal. Apparently after you pop out a few babies your body goes into autopilot mode. The contractions are freaking out my boss but I feel confident that baby Ava won't be making her arrival for at least another 5 weeks.

7. We are completely out of milk and juice.

8. Both Ayden and Jameson need new shoes...you know, the kind that actually fit.

9. Speaking of being able to fit. I took out coats for the boys this morning (it was in the low 40's!) and realized that Ayden's coat is a 3T and Jameson's is 18 months. Hmmmm. I think we need to buy Ayden a new coat so that Jameson can wear the 3T.

10. I downloaded 412 pictures last night from the past 4 weeks. I started editing my Connecticut pictures but had to stop to lay down down with the boys. I had every intention of finishing up the day 1 pictures, but woke up around 10pm with a numb arm and a two year old's foot pressed into my spine. I barely made it to the bathroom without peeing in the hallway and then crawled into my own bed. Maybe after buying milk, juice, shoes and a coat I'll be able to edit a few more pictures tonight.

When life hands you lemons....

2008-10-17T12:11:00.004-04:00

...make lemonade!

Ayden - We took our little man to see a pediatric opthamologist on Tuesday. To make a long story short, he's near sighted with astigmatisms which is why is right eye keeps crossing in. Dr. Greenberg said we brought him in just in time...another 6 months and his eyesight would probably have worsened due to the strain on his eyes. We had Ayden fitted for glasses on Tuesday and the lab technician's jaw dropped when he saw the prescription. Ayden's glasses are going to be so strong that they had to send them out to be made. Luckily, his vision should improve over time as long as he wears his glasses.

Jameson - This little guy has been demonstrating some pretty horrible behavior at Marguerite's during the past couple of weeks. Jameson has always been a handful, but apparently it's gotten worse. We love Marguerite very much but her house does not provide the structure and boundaries that Jameson needs. Jason and I have decided to move him to Royal Learners starting Monday where he will join the "younger three" classroom. Jameson is a very intelligent two year old (he knows his ABC's, numbers up to 10, colors and shapes) but we feel like his speech is slightly delayed. We know this is frustrating to him and is probably one of the reason's why he acts out. We're working with a state funded organization called Babies Can't Wait to have Jameson evaluated to determine if he has any behavioral disorders or if he just needs to work with a speech therapist to strengthen his communication skills. I've been pretty upset all week about this. No one wants to think that there is something "wrong" with their child, but it's something we have to consider. The evaluation won't take place for at least 45 days so Jameson will have plenty of time to adjust to Royal Learners during that time.

I'm almost 8 months pregnant and beyond emotional. After a few days of bawling my eyes out, I've finally realized that everything is going to be just fine. Ayden is going to adapt to his new glasses just fine. How exciting that he'll finally be able to see! Jameson is going to thrive in his new environment. He'll finally be spending his days with kids his own age and with rules just like he has at home. Jason and I truly believe this is exactly what he needs.

Speaking of Jason...he has been my rock this entire week. Calming me down when I needed it. Making me look at things rationally instead of basing things on emotion. And he's handled my tears with ease. The Tyler Perry projects couldn't have come to close at a better time. He's able to focus more on family now when we really need him. My mom has listened to me blubber on the phone all week and she has also calmed me down when I needed it. I know I've said it before, but I truly do have the best support system. I love them all and thank them so much for their patience, love and encouraging words this week!

Spaghetti Pie

2008-10-16T13:30:00.003-04:00

It's been a while since I posted a recipe! This one is new for us and was a huge hit at the dinner table last night. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1lb spaghetti
1lb lean ground beef
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp crushed garlic (I love garlic so added 2 tbsp)
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce
8oz sour cream
1/2 chopped green onions
8oz package cream cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
3. In a skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef. Drain and crumble. Put crumbled beef back in skillet and stir in salt, pepper, garlic, bell pepper and pasta sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. In a small bowl combine sour cream, green onion and cream cheese and set aside. Coat a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray and add the cooked spaghetti. Spread the cream cheese mixture over it, add the meat mixture and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
5. Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5 more minutes until the cheese is bubbly.

Serve with some garlic bread and voila! This is a super easy dinner that even the kids will like!!

I'm a software snob

2008-10-14T11:27:00.004-04:00

As much as I would love to know all the in's and out's of CS3, I'm a Photoshop Elements user. It's much easier to use and has many of the same capabilities at CS3. Currently, I have PSE 5 loaded on my home computer but I used PSE 6 at the CPR retreat and fell in love. PSE 7 is now available and already on order via my wonderful mother.

Last night after finally getting the boys to fall asleep, I wasn't ready to fall into bed yet. I really wanted to download all of my CPR pictures to post today but suddenly realized....I only have PSE 5 on my computer. Knowing all the fabulous things PSE 6 and 7 have to offer (like the ability to edit a JPEG in RAW), there was no way I was downloading my pictures to version 5!

I quickly pulled up the Adobe website and started to download the PSE 6 30-day trial. I'm sure mom's PSE 7 software will arrive before my trial expires (all of my fingers and toes are crossed). By the time everything downloaded and I had my pictures copied over from version 5 to 6, it was 10pm. I forced myself to go to bed but will be editing away tonight!!

Back to Reality

2008-10-13T08:32:00.003-04:00

Yup. I'm home.

Even though I slept at least nine hours every night while in Stamford, I'm still exhausted. Traveling will do that to a person...especially when that person is 7 1/2 months pregnant. My mom, Chere and Judy dragged my butt all over Connecticut and some of New York. I saw so many fabulous sights and learned a ton about my camera and photography. I have so many pictures to share once I get them downloaded.

Today it's back to reality though. I have laundry to do, bedding to wash and groceries to buy. This morning I got to get the kids in the car and to school/daycare with a nice steady shower coming down. I didn't have enough gas to get to and from work so I had to stop and fill up. I have a dental cleaning this afternoon and tomorrow morning we take Ayden to the pediatric ophthalmologist. Yes, life is definitely back to "normal".

If you need a little pick-me-up and you're a Stephanie Meyer fan...check this out!

17 Hours

2008-10-07T15:26:00.003-04:00

17 hours from now, a plane will be taking off from Atlanta heading to White Plains NY. And I'm going to be on it along with my mom and our dear friends, Chere and Judy. After our 2 1/2 hour flight we plan on taking our rental car for a 2 hour drive up the coast of Connecticut to Mystic. On Thursday, we'll be heading to Kent State Park for some leaf peeping. Friday and Saturday will be consumed with photography classes. I can't wait to learn, learn and learn! By 2:30pm on Sunday, we'll be heading back to Atlanta and our families.

I need this time away...
I need to regroup...
I need some sleep...

...because when I get back to normal life on the 13th, it's going to be non-stop until baby Ava's arrival.

Another Ultrasound

2008-10-06T12:14:00.003-04:00

Today is a crazy day. Jameson is at home with Mima today because I'm pretty sure he has another ear infection. I made him an appointment for 3:30.

Ava and I had another ultrasound with Dr. Korotkin this morning. She's doing great and we're right on schedule with baby weighing in at approximately 3lbs. Midway through the ultrasound I had to go potty. When I got back I was surprised to receive a 3D ultrasound. I really didn't want to have 3D ultrasound done, but the tech was so excited about it I would have felt horrible saying no. It's just a personal preference, but I really don't want to know what my baby is going to look like before his/her birth. Knowing the sex is enough for me...I'd like something to be a surprise at delivery. Oh well, now I'm the proud parent of two 3D ultrasound pictures that my precious baby girl already has some chubby cheeks. Dr. K also gave me the thumbs up to fly to Connecticut this week so I'm a happy camper.

Tomorrow I see Dr. McSwain for another OB appointment. I really don't want to step on the scale for the weigh-in. Tomorrow night I'll be packing for our early morning flight on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to a couple of days away but hate to leave while both of my boys are under the weather. It's a good thing their Mima is here to make sure everything runs smoothly in my absence.

One more post for today

2008-10-02T13:43:00.003-04:00

I don't like walking away sounding upset, depressed or miserable. I am non of those things. I sure hope no one got that impression from my last post. It's just that Brenda's story could happen to anyone if we're not careful and slow down every once in a while. My life is super crazy and hectic but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

It's been a while since I've really felt any creative juices flowing through my veins. I take pictures out of necessity rather than for the joy and I haven't touched my scrap supplies in almost 5 weeks. I'm very excited about my Connecticut trip next week though. I get a tingle every time I think about all of the bonding time I'll have with my Nikon D40 while I'm there! All these tingles sort of make me want to dive into a project. Something that combines photography with lots of journaling and minimal scrapping to keep everything clean and simple.

Do any of you keep up with Ali Edward's blog? Besides family and friends, I've been sort of avoiding the blogging world for the past 3-4 months but I've been getting back into it lately. Right now Ali is working on a "week in the life" project. She's taking lots of pictures of her daily routine, work stuff and family stuff. Every day she documents her family's activities for the day. After the week is over, she'll be putting everything into a mini book. She's done this before and I love the concept.

We have a lot going on in our family right now. Both Ayden and Jameson are going through some new phases, daddy is struggling to balance work/home with the Tyler Perry projects coming to a close and we're working on some of our own small projects at home. And then there's me...trying to be a good mom, wife, career woman and homemaker all while cooking baby #3 in my tummy. Lots going on = lots to document! Even if you think your life is boring and nothing changes day to day, Ali makes a point by saying that your emotions may be different so you'll view routine things in new ways. One day you could concentrate more on what's going on at work and less about the family. I truly believe that we all live interesting lives and they're worth sharing.

I'm really liking the idea of just keeping the book itself simple and concentrating more on the photos + words! I'd love to start the week after my trip. It'll be a busy week for all of us so there will be a ton to document. Let me know if you want to play along with me!

It really hit home...

2008-10-02T10:19:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I was on such an emotional high after passing the exam. After having such a nice lunch with my mom, I had big plans. I was going to go home and take a well-deserved nap. But instead I ran a few errands and came home to admire Ava's new clothes. I'm never home at 4pm to watch Oprah, but there have been shows of hers that I've DVR'd if I thought they looked interesting. I really had her on just for background noise, but found myself glued to the TV as I watched a woman named Brenda Slaby tell her story about accidentally leaving her 2 year old in the car for over 8 hours. Poor Cecilia died of heatstroke due to outside temperatures reaching 100 degrees that day. I bawled my eyes out for 45 minutes until it was time to pick up the boys.

Before having children, I couldn't understand how something like that happens. I thought it must take one crappy mom to "accidentally" leave their child in the car all day. Now that I'm a mom, I not only completely understand how it could happen, but I'm scared of how easily it could happen. Most mom's today have no choice but to work outside of the home to help support their family. We're expected to have a career, pull our own weight financially, maintain the house and take care of the kids. We're expected to be supermom! I don't know who decided the bar should be set so high, but they should be shot. I can't tell you how many times I've left the house only to return multiple times because I forgot the camera, or I forgot the diaper bag, or Jameson's sippy is still sitting on the counter, or I forgot to let the dogs back in the house.

My routine is what keeps me sane. Without it, I crumble and feel inadequate. Without it, I know that things are getting missed. Maybe it's crazy to rely so heavily on a routine but it's what I need to make sure that things get done. Brenda Slaby had to deviate from her normal routine the day her daughter died. My heart goes out to Brenda, her family and all the other moms out there trying to be Supermom. Keep your chin up ladies!

To read more about Brenda's story, click here.

Pass or Fail?

2008-10-01T15:54:00.003-04:00

Well, here it is....

I'm sorry. Are you having a hard time reading that? Let me move in closer for you....I couldn't be happier! I had a horrible feeling during and after the exam that I had failed so imagine my surprise when this was waiting for me out in the reception room.

So how did I celebrate this victory? I chowed down a double cheeseburger and fries with my mom and then she took me to Babies R Us to pick up some more clothes for baby Ava. Oh, and I just polished off this....

You can now call me Jamie Payne, CPP...Certified Payroll Professional!

Getting Focused

2008-09-30T08:31:00.002-04:00

Why is this so difficult for me? I have the entire day to study at home. This is my last day to prepare for the CPP exam tomorrow and I need to pass. So why am I wandering around the house looking for something else to do?

I just called Comcast (cable company) because our bedroom cable box hasn't been working for about 3 months and I still need to call the EMC (electric company) about a utility light in our driveway that hasn't worked since we moved in. I'd like to get up to the attic and find my cooler weather maternity clothes. While I'm up there, I may as well start hauling down tubs of baby clothes and figure out what baby Ava can wear without looking like a little boy. I need to ship Jason's Xbox so that it can be fixed and I'd like to find another pair of jeans at Motherhood Maternity.

Where's the study time in all of that? There is none. So I need to put all of the above to the back of my mind and finish the PayTrain module on calculation of involuntary deductions. Sounds like fun, huh?

Wish me luck!

CFAB/ASC Scavenger Hunt

2008-09-29T13:52:00.006-04:00

What in the heck is that you ask? Let's start with the basics.

CFAB = Chick-fil-A Bowl

For all of you that don't follow college football, there is a division here at the Chamber that is responsible for putting on the CFAB every January 1st. New to us this year was also the college kick off game in August.

ASC = Atlanta Sports Council

This division of the Chamber is responsible for everything "sporty" in Atlanta. They host RaceTown before the fall NASCAR race all the way to putting on the AVP/Crocs Tour here at Atlantic Station.

To explain the scavenger hunt part....

On the last Friday of each month we have a Chamber-wide staff meeting where we serve our staff some sort of breakfast and each SVP has an opportunity to share what's going on in their division. This tends to be a snooze-fest. Not that I'm not interested and/or proud of what the Chamber does, it's just that the SVPs can be slightly long winded and give out more information than actually necessary.

We made a change mid-year for 2008 and assigned each month's staff meeting to a specific division. They are supposed to come up with a fun and interactive way to teach the staff about current events in their division. So far we've been having a lot of fun! For September, CFAB/ASC came up with a "Digital Scavenger Hunt". They supplied us with a list of about 35 items that we either had to take a picture or video of us doing. Here are a few of the pictures from Team Central Services...

Directions: Picture of a team member holding a volleyball while standing in sand.

Our take: HR Director, Paul, holding a volleyball in his kids' sandbox.

Directions: Picture of team member standing on college or pro football field.

Our take: Me lying our way through security at the Georgia Dome to take this picture of Paul on the Falcon's field.

Direction: Picture of team member with a staff member of CBS-46.

Our take: Me convincing receptionist that it was a matter of life or death that Denise and I take our picture with news anchor Helen Neill.

Directions: Picture of team member in a boat or life jacket.

Our take: Me posing in a 7-year old's life jacket while almost 7 months pregnant. It wasn't pretty.

Directions: Picture of team member wearing any mascot head.

Our take: Track down the person who plays "Freddie the Falcon" and ask if we can quickly put on any of his mascot heads. I'm wearing the head from an old mascot for the Georgia Force.

This was a ton of fun, but a lot of work. Denise, Paul and I were completely exhausted after our one day journey through Atlanta to get the "perfect" pictures:) And if you noticed, my fellow team members made me do all the lying. Lying is not something that I'm really good at so I was completely drained from the stress of it all!

Worn Out

2008-09-26T11:37:00.003-04:00

And going home.

I guess all of the work I put into the CFAB/ASC Scavenger Hunt, Kaiser Permanente Corporate Run/Walk and staff meeting this week is starting to show on my face. Both the CFO and Finance Director told me after the staff meeting today that I need to be out of here by noon...and that I'm to go to bed.

No problem.

I'll post pictures from last weekend's carnival, the scavenger hunt and corporate run some time this weekend. A good time was definitely had by all, but now I'm ready for a nice long nap!

Have a great weekend!

Ayden got his teeth tickled!

2008-09-24T06:23:00.005-04:00

Ayden had his first dentist appointment yesterday afternoon. To help prepare him, I said we were going to get his teeth tickled. I didn't feel like that was too far fetched...I laugh hysterically when they polish the insides of my teeth. Apparently the roof of my mouth is quite sensitive.

Ms Angie came out to introduce herself and told me that today was just a "fun" day. Ayden would get to see/touch all of the tools and get comfortable in the dentist environment. Most kids don't make it to the actually cleaning part of the visit out of fear. I just knew that Ayden would do great and walk out of there with polished teeth!Mr. Ayden sitting patiently in the waiting room. His paparazzi mom couldn't wait to start snapping pictures!

Ayden was introduced to "Mr. Thirsty"...aka saliva/water suckerupper.

Here we are showing Ms. Angie how wide we can open our mouth. Not a bad start!

Getting our teeth counted. 10 on the top and 10 on the bottom.

After all the flavors of polish were listed, he chose mint. MINT? I so would have gone for the grape! He's actually laughing in this picture.

A little squirt of water and some Mr. Thirsty action. Ayden had it all figured out by this point.

All polished up posing with Ms. Angie. She was fantastic and and I couldn't thank her enough for making first cleaning an enjoyable experience!

Great job buddy! I'm so proud of you for being such a big boy!!!

Lack of sleep and a Moo Moo Mr. Cow

2008-09-18T13:49:00.006-04:00

I'm pretty darn tired because I got up with Jameson at 3am. The little turd just woke up and wanted to hang out. It wasn't until 5am that he finally fell back asleep but then it was time for mommy to get in the shower. I think I'm functioning pretty well considering I got totally screwed in the sleep department. I made sure to tell Jason about it this morning so that he'd feel bad for me and appreciate that I don't subject him to Jameson's poor sleeping habits. I'm not so sure that he felt bad for me since he rushed out the door after giving me a kiss to the forehead and a slightly (okay barely) sympathetic look. Sigh.

I almost ripped someone's head off at work today. I decided to take a break from studying by hitting the treadmill. As I made my way to the front door with my gym bag, a co-worker (who we'll call butthead throughout the rest of this post), stopped me in the hallway.

Butthead: Going over to the gym today?
Me: I sure am...trying to stay motivated.
Butthead: Are you sure it's doing any good?

Now, it's a good thing I know this butthead pretty well because I was about 75% positive that he was just joking around. So I responded with....

Are you sure your daily trip to Moe's is doing you any good?

Oh ya. That felt good.

BTW - For those of you who don't know, Moe's is mexican fast food. I love Moe's. I've become addicted to the "Moo Moo Mr. Cow", the kidsize burrito. Butthead didn't need to know that though:)

Because I was still slightly ticked off after my 30 minutes on the treadmill and some light weights, I treated myself to a Moo Moo Mr. Cow but snuck it in the building via my gym bag.

My body can't sit still even when I want it to....

2008-09-17T12:18:00.003-04:00

Last night I wasn't feeling my best. I think I may have some sort of stomach virus that's working itself out of my system right now. So after making dinner, cleaning the kitchen, bathing the boys and getting backpacks ready for this morning I plopped my butt down on the couch for a 5 minute breather. Ayden and Jameson were already in their room watching their 15 minutes of Scooby Doo before bedtime. I'm sure that if I had closed my eyes, I would have fallen asleep immediately.

As my body was slowly starting to relax I heard a little boy's breathing to my left. I opened an eyeball and found Ayden staring down at me.

Me: What's up buddy?
Ayden: I want to be by you. (He's been saying this a lot lately)
Me: Let's snuggle for a few minutes before bedtime.

Ayden got all snuggled in next to me with his head on my belly. I had the TV off so I heard nothing but his sweet breathing and there was no movement except for me running my fingers through his hair. All was calm. Next thing I know he bolted up and was looking at me with a very perturbed look on his face.

Ayden: SIT STILL!
Me: Baby, I'm not moving.
Ayden: I was talking to my sister, duh.

Hmmmm. I guess I had been enjoying the moment with Ayden so much that I didn't even notice that Ava was bouncing around in my belly like a gymnast. Apparently the need to be by me was now gone because he got up and pouted his way to bed. Oh well, it's not like I can help it:)

Tuesday Goodness

2008-09-16T08:29:00.005-04:00

It's gloomy outside. The perfect weather to curl up on the couch to. So how does a person climb out of the dark, dreary clouds that are threatening to spill rain? With a whole bunch of goodness!!!

Despite the apparent gas shortage (my favorite gas station is bone dry) I'm confident that after my truck guzzles down it's last 1/4 of a tank, I will have no problem filling up for under $4.25 a gallon.
When Ayden saw his Soccer Shots t-shirt laying out this morning, his beautiful face lit up with excitement.
Jameson fell asleep at 8pm last night and didn't venture into our room until 4:35am. I say progress, Jason says it's about time.
Ayden has started calling me a "Sleeping Beauty Princess". I'm just fine with that.
When we got home last night, the boys played outside while I made dinner, washed their hands, ate, played outside some more and then took a nice spill-free bath. Ah...sweet routine.
After blogging, I plan on spending the rest of my day studying for the CPP exam. I love that I have such a supportive boss that insists that I shut my office door so I'm not interrupted.
My request for Debbie's (MIL) airfare was approved yesterday. So glad that she's coming down to help Jason out while I'm in Connecticut.
I love that besides nail night, we have nothing going on this week.
I couldn't help but giggle this morning as I listened to Ayden in the bathroom, showing daddy his new karate moves that he learned last week...for like the 3rd time.
I almost bawled my eyes out as we were walking out the door and Jameson handed Ayden is sippy cup. Jameson's "Here brudder" got me weepy but it was when Ayden gave Jameson a hug and said "Thanks best friend" that pushed me over the edge.
And because I can't stop at 10 good things...I love that Ava kicks me all of the time. It's not always comfortable, but it reminds me of the beautiful life growing inside of me. I can't wait to meet our precious baby girl in approximately 9 weeks.

Edited: I accidentally skipped a month when looking at my due date. Ava won't be here for another 13 weeks. Sorry!

So whether it's gloomy or sunny by you, here's wishing you lots of Tuesday goodness!

They Make Me Smile

2008-09-15T19:17:00.003-04:00

It was a good weekend. I got some things accomplished at home, we ran a few errands and spent a couple hours at the pool to relax. I couldn't help but snap a few pics of the boys after they were done swimming. Their beautiful faces make me smile....Hope you had a good weekend too!

The Decision!

2008-09-12T08:37:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I chose the Twix over the gym. I ended up running into my work spouse, who had a horrible day, and I donated half of my Twix to him. I felt better about my decision after only eating half.

Today I'm in a meeting from 9am - 5:30pm. Fun, fun!

This is a HUGE decision!

2008-09-11T13:12:00.002-04:00

I'm right in the middle of studying for the CPP exam. Yes, I was finally able to carve out some time before I'm in an all day meeting tomorrow.

So...do I scoot over to the gym for an hour of excercise to clear out my brain? I haven't been over there all week! Or do I go downstairs, buy a much wanted Twix bar and then start on module 2 of my payroll training program?

I'll let you know what I decide in tomorrow's post.....

Public or Private

2008-09-11T08:18:00.006-04:00

Where we would send our children to school was not something we took into consideration when we moved to Georgia. Jason and I both grew up in the Midwest where we were offered an excellent education through the public school system. My high school was very competitive. You were not in the "in" crowd unless you were in honors classes and played a varsity sport. My teachers wanted us to excel and worked with us to make sure we did well. My parents very rarely had to help me with homework and never had to monitor my progress at school. Report cards were sent out, I got patted on the head and life moved on.

I'm not sure if things have changed in the Midwest (I graduated 13 years ago), but things are definitely very different in the south. The school systems in Georgia are deplorable. Parents spend 3-4 hours each night with their children working on homework. Grades, quizzes and tests are monitored via online services. Parents are forever having to work with the schools and teachers to get the best for their children. Now, I'm all for parent participation but I feel like it should be because I "want" to...not because the school is failing my child and I have no choice. Georgia schools teach kids to take tests...simple as that. I want my children to walk away from 13 years of school with knowledge, not just the ability to memorize.

So, if I don't trust the public schools to do this what other option is there? Right now there is a lot of hype on charter schools. You can find charter schools all across the nation, but they're just starting to get popular in Georgia. These schools are public schools but teach with a more hands on approach and are allowed to be more flexible with their curriculum. Test scores are actually higher (possibly because the students are actually learning) and graduation rates are almost 100%. After hearing such great things about charter schools I decided to look into it for Ayden. Hmmmm. Apparently these schools are mostly being developed in Metro Atlanta...not down in the sticks by us. There is one charter school in Coweta County just west of us but it would be waaaaay out of my way for work and since we live in Fayette County, we'd be last on the list.

If charter schools are out of the question, then all we're left with is private. $$$ That's all I can think of. $$$ We don't have a lot of $$$ just sitting around. I plan on picking up some financial aid forms while I'm on maternity leave and we'll cross our fingers and pray we qualify. I'm hoping that because we'll have Ava in daycare, Jameson in daycare/preschool and Ayden in private school (and the fact that plumbers and payroll accountants don't make a boat load of cash), we'll get some sort of help and be able to send Ayden off for a another year of quality education next fall.

NOTE: I do realize that not ALL of Georgia's schools suck. There are some great schools in Peachtree City! But we really want to buy a larger home for our growing family and we prefer to not live in congested Peachtree City.

So, keep your fingers crossed that Jason and I are as broke as we think we are so that we can get a great discount on a private school education for our kids:)

Ayden Conversation

2008-09-09T13:41:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I wasn't in the mood to cook but I wasn't in the mood to go out for dinner either. Jason was in Peachtree City at the shop and offered to get take out at Chili's. He wanted me to call him when I had picked up Ayden and was on my way to get Jameson so the timing would be right. I had just picked up Ayden and was cruising down Dogwood when I called Jason...

Me: Hey bunny. I'm on Dogwood right now and about to turn down Farr Road.

Ayden: NO MOMMY! It's not "far", you're supposed to turn right there to pick up Jameson!!

He had screamed so loud out of concern that I might miss our turn to pick up his brother that I almost dropped the phone. Leave it to Ayden to keep mommy on track:)

BTW - Today is his first day of soccer. I can't wait to find out if he likes it. Karate went well last Friday. Apparently they were using a "noodle" (I think he was referring to one of those swimming noodles) to kick at. Ayden tends to be a bit dramatic so I'm sure that the sounds and hand gestures he made to accompany his demonstration were not things he learned at karate that day. He seriously cracks me up!

5th Ultrasound & 25 Weeks

2008-09-08T14:58:00.003-04:00

First of all, please let me mention that I seem to have finally caught Jameson's cold. I'm congested and sneezing like a lunatic. I just ran out of Kleenex and it's taking all of my restrain to not go rip the toilet paper off the wall in the ladies room.

Okay, about today's ultrasound. I loved it! I always love ultrasounds, but today was amazing. As soon as she popped up on the screen, I got a cute view of her butt...with legs spread wide open...and a vagina. Please understand how excited this made me since this was the first time I actually got VISUAL proof that this baby is a girl. So far, I've just been taking Dr. Korotkin's word for it. Yes, he's an expert but even experts sometimes make a mistake. I made Julie (the ultrasound tech) take a picture...which my mom has offered to scan so that I can post it.

Ava (I can say that with more confidence now) was moving everywhere. There is nothing more fun that to see your baby move on the screen and feel it at the same time. For a while she was playing with her toes (another Jameson?), then she put her hand up to her mouth (sucking her thumb?) and then a nice karate chop with her leg which I felt on my bladder. Next thing I knew, her foot was smack dab in the center of the screen and then we saw/felt the ultrasound-wand-thingy jump on my belly. Fun!

Last month, she was about 1 week behind (sizewise) and today she was 1 day ahead of schedule. I guess that made me feel better about the 5lb weight gain last month. It's all for a good cause:) Right now she's weighing in just under 2lbs and is about 13 inches long.

I see Dr. McSwain again on the 23rd for the glucose screening (yuck!) and we'll visit Dr. Korotkin on 10/6 for another ultrasound. It'll be nice to know that everything is going well inside before I hop on a plane for Connecticut.

Here's what's going on this week:

Your little grower’s physical proportions are evening out at this point and most of their remaining development will largely be weight gain and lots and lots of nervous system development. The good news is: if your child is born premature now they’ll be more likely to survive without too much trauma as their lungs began to produce “surfactant” last week, which means their tiny respiratory system is getting stronger with each passing day. Yes, now’s a good time for a minor sigh of relief and a quick pat on the back. All that hard work and conscientious living is really getting your child prepared for a healthy delivery. Keep up the fabulous work mama! This week they’ll be scootching slowly out of the old breech position and start rotating (already!) into a better position for exit during their birth. Their head and feet are slowly rotating so that the head is pointed down towards the birth canal. Time is short (or really long, depending on who you ask)—just (still!) 14 weeks left before you can go back to being a single-resident human.

Beyond Blessed

2008-09-05T08:15:00.004-04:00

Wow. I hadn't realized until today that I've been posting on this blog for over a year now! My first post was on 8/8/07. Jameson had just turned 1 and Ayden's 3rd birthday was right around the corner. That was also around the time when Jason and I started arguing about adding to our family. I was so sure that I would never feel new life in me again.

Now look at us! Jameson is a 2 year old potty training machine and big boy Ayden just turned 4 years old and started "real" school. And then there's the new life getting bigger and bigger inside of me every day. I am seriously so blessed! I have a husband who tells me he loves me at least 10 times every day, still chases me around the house to pinch my butt (despite it's growth after the birth/pregnancy of above mentioned children) and works very hard to support us and make sure we're happy. I have my two little boys with such different personalities that sometimes it's hard to keep up with them. They add so much to our family though and I love watching them grow and learn. And then there's this new little person who will be joining the hectic Payne family in December. I can't wait to see her, touch her and...okay...dress her! I feel like it's only fair that if she gets to kick me for 4 months, I get to use her as my personal Barbie doll.

We have also gotten very lucky with Ayden's school this year. He loves Royal Learners and has so much to tell me every night when I pick him up. Today he starts karate class and next week he starts soccer. I love that we have the option to pay for these extra classes during the day (thanks for helping Mimi & Bumpa!). The con is that I don't get to watch him practice and grow at these sports but the pro is that they're not cutting into our home time. Now if only they offered swim lessons....

So life may be hectic (who's isn't?) but when I stop to take a good look around me, I know that I'm beyond blessed.

We've Been Busy

2008-09-03T19:38:00.009-04:00

I feel like that's the understatement of the year. We've had birthdays, illness, swim lessons, festivals, new school and oh so much more going on during the past month. Things seem to calming down...finally. Daddy is laying down with the boys so that I can take a few minutes to download/edit photos and actually post a few. I love it when my husband is home!

So we should probably start out with Ayden's birthday. We had a very quiet/low-key celebration with just Mimi & Bumpa in attendance.

And then we had swim lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the month of August. I was very proud of Ayden's progress during the 8 lessons. I can't wait for him to continue with PreLevel 2 in December. Unfortunately Ms. Nicole left the dive shop for a more full time job, but I'm sure Ayden's next instructor will be just as patient and caring.

Last weekend we went to the Powers Crossroads Festival in Cowetta County. Basically it's just another excuse to take pictures of my children:)

And I couldn't possibly leave out the addition of 3 new tattoos...on Ayden! Daddy humored Ayden and put all 3 smack-dab in the middle of his chest.

Ayden ended up with all 3 tattoos because Jameson wouldn't stop squirming long enough for daddy to apply anything on him. He still wanted his picture taken though...

Why does my plea for brotherly love have to turn into more of a choke hold?September brings more festivals and active weekends. Ayden starts karate classes this Friday and goes in for his first dental cleaning later in the month. You can bet my camera will be on hand to capture it all!

Weight Gain Estimator

2008-09-03T08:18:00.004-04:00

My friend, Roxanne, sent this link to me yesterday after she read my depressing post. Here are the results to my Weight Gain Estimator....

You should gain roughly 15-25 lbs. during your pregnancy. Over the last two trimesters you should gain about 2.6 lbs. every 4 weeks.

How it breaks down - If you gained the average of range above, this is where the weight would go (totals are rounded):

Maternal:
Uterus 1.33 lbs.
Breasts 0.55 lbs. (Um, they have this one waaaaay underestimated)
Blood 1.71 lbs.
Water 2.3 lbs.
Fat 4.59 lbs.
Subtotal 10.48 lbs.

Fetal:
Fetus 7.5 lbs. (Apparently they don't know about my love for pushing out babies no larger than 6.5 lbs)
Placenta 0.89 lbs.
Amniotic Fluid 1.09 lbs.
Subtotal 9.48 lbs.

Total 19.96 lbs. (I'd prefer to keep it between 15 and 17 thank you very much)

BTW - Our benefits administrator was in yesterday to process a new eligible employee. After our meeting regarding 2009's open enrollment, she took me to lunch at Taco Mac. What I really wanted to do was drown my sorrows in beer, but settled for the loaded nachos. This is an appetizer and could easily feed a family of 10. I put down half of it and ate the rest for breakfast this morning. And I wonder why I'm constantly suffering from heartburn! I think my pittyfest is now over and I'll be making my usual appearance at Turner Athletic Club today.

Look for pictures tomorrow!

Excuse me...how much weight did you say I gained??????

2008-09-02T09:36:00.002-04:00

Yup. An hour later and this question is still buzzing through my head. I walked into today's 6 month check up so very confident that my time at the gym was going to pay off. Don't get me wrong. I know I have to gain weight ...I'm pregnant after all...but I was hoping to keep it to 1-2 pounds per month. So after I got on the scale and snuck a peek at my chart, I just about fell off my chair! 5 lbs...in one month? That's after hitting the gym 4 days a week for the past month. Dr. McSwain tried to console me by giving the "muscle weighs more than fat" speech but I wasn't listening. I was still stuck on the fact that I gained 5lbs in one freakin month. I promised myself during my drive to the office that I wouldn't give up. I will continue to schlep my gym bag across the street even though all I really want to do is waive the white flag and do a face plant in an order of Moe's nachos.

To make matters even worse? After calling Jason to cry out my frustrations, he informed me that I shouldn't feel bad because all of my weight gain is in my boobs. Stupid, stupid man. It's a good thing I love him so much or there would be a dead plumber at Tyler Perry's brand new studio right now! Don't worry...I'll make him pay for his momentary lapse in judgement.

Here's what's going on with Ava during week 24....

This is another big week for your magical growing baby! Just take a look at the checklist for this week: 1) ears: done; 2) fingernails: done; 3) (if you have a boy) testicles: taking their 3-4 day trip from the abdominal wall to the scrotum; and 4) lungs walls: secreting “surfactant”. What’s that? Well, surfactant is sort of what it sounds like: a surface-activated fat whose main purpose is to assist the your baby's little lungs during inflation (as in, filling with air, not getting more expensive). Just in case you’re curious, your submerged baby is still breathing in amniotic fluid, preparing and rehearsing the lungs an oxygen-filled life outside the womb. By the end of this week, your child will be weighing around 2 lbs and 14 inches long. Your cutie-patootie may even be a little more plump, but isn't anywhere near their full baby-fatted cute-self. Most of the “filling out” is coming up in that long awaited (and slightly dreaded?) third trimester. Woo-hoo! Get ready!

An Answer to Deb's Question

2008-08-29T14:39:00.003-04:00

Deb wanted to know what sort of work Jason has been doing for Tyler Perry.

Well, my bunny is a very talented and dedicated journeyman plumber. Through Patriot Plumbing (the company Jason works for) he has done all the plumbing for Tyler's studio #1, his new home off of West Paces Ferry, studio #2 and his pool/guest house. These projects have taken up most of his time during the past 2 years. Tyler is very demanding, changes his mind all of the time (no matter what stage the project is in) and expects everything to be done according to his "vision".

Jason has pretty much so had it up to here with Tyler Perry projects and has threatened to leave the company if his boss accepts another one. Luckily Rob knows that Jason is only half joking around and has promised that after studio #2 (a total of 8 buildings) is complete, they're done. I, on the other hand, doubt this will be the last thing they do for Tyler Perry.

Summary

2008-08-29T08:30:00.003-04:00

It's been one of those weeks. Very busy at work...very busy at home. We're all looking forward to a nice 3day weekend.

Ayden finished PreLevel 1 swim lessons last night. Check out my mom's blog for pictures. I brought my camera but had the wrong lens on so I left it up to her.
We're losing our puppy sitter...again. Luckily Marguerite's husband, David, has offered to take over starting next week Tuesday.
Jameson is potty training and doing very well when with me. He's not doing as well with Marguerite, but it's not his fault. He needs to be taken to the potty every 30 minutes and she gets busy and forgets. Luckily I'll have 3 days to work with him this weekend!
Ayden is doing much better at school in the mornings. With juice box in hand, he sits nicely in the big comfy chair to read a book as I pull away. Big sigh of relief.
We have no idea where our home phone is (I'm sure Jameson is to blame for this one). If you've called us during the past month and we haven't returned your call, it's not because we don't like you. It's starting to get on my nerves so we'll be going out this weekend to get a new phone. In the mean time...call one of our cells.
The next 3 months are going to be insane at work. So many projects coming up that need to be finished before baby Ava comes. I'm starting to feel the pressure, but I normally work much better under pressure.
I'm in total shock that my trip to Connecticut is in a month (we leave 10/8)! Where has the time gone? Looking forward to getting away for a while, seeing New York with my mom and fellow scrap divas and working on my photography skills.
I'm getting really excited about baby Ava's arrival. I'm hoping Jason can get her room painted in September so that I can start decorating/accessorizing.
Jason is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel at Tyler Perry's studio. He was actually in a good mood when I talked to him on Wednesday. He's not normally in a good mood while at work. I'll be so relieved when his load lightens a bit.

Okay, gotta run. I'm hoping to get out of here early today so I need to get a few things crossed off my to-do list.

Have a happy and safe holiday weekend!

Week 23

2008-08-25T10:51:00.003-04:00

Here's what's going on this week with baby Ava! Our next OB appointment is on 9/2 and our next ultrasound is on 9/8.

At this point you’ve pretty much adjusted to the fact you’ve got a moving little gymnast inside of you, but now they’re going to kick up the party a notch because they can hear and react to sounds from the outside world. Sounds from your alarm clock, a thunder roll, or that darned car honking at you across the intersection can actually jar their little ears enough to elicit a kick or violent bout of squirming. Of course this also means that their little ears are picking up the sounds of your voice and those near you. So go ahead, sing a lullaby to your little angel—if they start kicking, it’s likely they just want you to stop… or maybe it was a kick of approval? You decide. Your baby's tiny taste buds are still growing and their bones are continuing to ossify (harden), their tiny veins are visible through their translucent yet wrinkly skin. (Think of it this way: they’ve been swimming in the equivalent of a long hot bath for the past 23 weeks, so you can’t blame them for being a little prune-like.)

Am I Weird?

2008-08-25T08:13:00.006-04:00

Please don't get me wrong...I love summer. I love the blue skies, the warm weather and time spent by the pool. But I'm a Midwesterner at heart. I tire of temps in the 90's and the oppressive humidity. Sometimes I long for cloudy, dreary days and yes, the smell of crisp fall leaves. The sort of days that make you want to stay indoors where it's dry, warm and safe. So as badly as I feel for people who were adversely affected by hurricane Fay, I would like to thank her for sending so much crappy weather our way.

I've had the same to-do list for months and only a few things have actually gotten crossed off, only to be added a back a couple of weeks later. When I woke up Saturday morning to clouds and mist, I almost did a happy dance. What better excuse to stay home and indoors! The boys woke me up around 6am and daddy was out the door for work about an hour later. With Diego playing in the living room, I started with our laundry. We only left the house once...to take daddy lunch and hit the grocery store. With the skies threatening to dump at any moment, there was no way we were going out to eat. By the time Jason walked through the door our bedroom, bathroom, Ava's room, the boys' room, living room and kitchen had all been cleaned. I even took everything out of the refrigerator and cleaned it from top to bottom...throwing away anything that I could no longer identify. All of our laundry was clean and put away. There was a blueberry cobbler (made from scratch) cooling on the stove and dinner was cooking in the oven. I was feeling great! While Ayden and Jason stayed up to watch The Secret of Nimh, Jameson and I went to bed nice and early. I was exhausted but in such a good way!

Sunday morning we woke up to more clouds and gloom. Yeah! There was still so much more to do and I was on a roll. I made the boys scrambled eggs and started stripping beds. I was forced to wake Jason up around 9:30am so I could get our sheets clean too. I started working on the office/scrap area (way too big of a project for just one day) and steam cleaned the carpet in our bedroom, Ava's room (starting to get ready for our princess...can you tell?), the hallway and the living room. All day, there was a beef roast with onions, carrots, potatoes and mushrooms cooking in the crockpot. The house smelled soooo yummy! Jason had a short to-do list as well and didn't complain once about getting things done. He moved the boys' cable line to the other side of their bedroom (and encountered a dead rat in the crawl space), hung up some new lights by the bunk beds, cleaned out the garage and picked up some trash in the bushes. He also totally saved my poor uterus by moving all the heavy furniture around so I could steam clean the entire living room floor. Mimi and Bumpa arrived promptly at 5:30pm for dinner. We tend to tone down the family dinners during the summer so it felt good to have them over two weekends in a row. As I was taking a shower before bed (didn't want to crawl into clean sheets after working all day), I realized that I didn't leave the house once all day. I can't remember the last time I did that!!! The best part?? Right around dinner, the skies finally opened up and we had a nice thunderstorm that took us through until bedtime. Thanks again Fay!!

And now it's Monday. It was cloudy and foggy this morning as I made my way into work but nothing could ruin the good mood that the productive weekend had put me in. Not the jackasses driving the speed limit in the fast lane, not the roadside drug bust that had me crawling through the connector and definitely not the knowledge that I had a one-day payroll ahead of me. No sirree. This is going to be a good week!

I hope yours was just as enjoyable!

Really quick update

2008-08-22T09:49:00.002-04:00

It's been a rough week and I couldn't be more happy that today is Friday (I think I say that every Friday). Between family illness, doctor visits, horrible commutes, and swim lessons we've been on the go constantly.

After Ayden's shots on Tuesday, I had been waiting for the dreaded fever that he always gets. I could see an attitude change coming on Wednesday morning when I dropped him off at school. He didn't want me to leave, he "needed" me, and was crying hysterically. I felt like the world's worst mom as I left him kicking and screaming with his teacher and raced to work. Yesterday it was the same thing. Leaving my children when they are unhappy drains me. I feel like an emotional void. I had just gotten to the parking lot and pulled into my space, when Jason called to tell me the school had called him. Ayden had thrown up shortly after I left and was running a fever. Being the awesome daddy that Jason is, he offered to leave work, go pick up a car seat at my mom's and pick up Ayden. Knowing that is actually out of the question for him right now (serious deadlines at Tyler Perry's studio), I put the truck in reverse and headed back home to pick Ayden up myself...feeling even more crappy than I already had for leaving my baby when he was obviously distraught and not feeling well. My heart just about broke when I found him sleeping in a chair in the nurse's room. He was burning up! I took him home, gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed. He slept until 11ish and woke up slightly cooler and happier. After another dose of Tylenol at 12:30, his fever finally broke around 4. He insisted on going to swim lessons so off we went.

He felt a little warm to me this morning so I made him take some more Tylenol before dropping the boys off. He wasn't exactly thrilled that I was leaving him again, but I managed to get out the door and on my way to work. I'm hoping for a relaxing weekend. Jason has to work tomorrow, but has promised to be home Sunday for family time.

Ayden Update

2008-08-20T14:37:00.002-04:00

Well, my baby is definitely trying to grow on me. We had his 4 year check up yesterday and Ayden weighed in at 43lbs (92nd percentile) and 42 inches (75th percentile). They performed a hearing, vision and minor dental screening on him as well. He passed the hearing test and his teeth look beautiful. Unfortunately, he didn't do so hot with the vision test. I already had concerns that he may have a lazy eye but after the vision test, Dr. Goza recommended he see an optometrist. It's also time to initiate Ayden with the dentist even though everything looks good. He's just at the age when we should start his cleanings. We ended the visit with 3 shots in the leg. He took it like a trooper but was very whiny and clingy this morning. I'm convinced that there's something in those immunizations that knocks our kids off course for a couple of days. We don't exactly have a choice though if they are to attend school/daycare.

Well, that's about all I have time for. I'm looking forward to a nice evening at home. We haven't actually had a night at home since last week Friday. I want to make dinner, take baths, get our PJ's on and play Hungry Hungry Hippo with my boys. Wow, has my idea of a fun evening changed drastically from 5 years ago!!!

Thinking of making a change...

2008-08-19T10:38:00.006-04:00

It's days like today that I seriously consider quitting my job to find something closer to home. I love working for the Chamber. I love what we stand for and the positive impact we have on the community. I love the people I work with and I thoroughly enjoy my job. My boss is absolutely amazing and I'm so lucky to report to such a wonderful woman.

I seriously hate my commute though. Most days it isn't toooo bad, but it's days like today that I want to just turn around and go back home. I was at my first stop of the day...dropping Jameson off at Marguerite's...when David comes out to tell me that I shouldn't take Interstate 85. Apparently there was a horrible accident around 5am this morning with serious injuries, possible fatalities and overturned vehicles. I immediately called Jason who had left the house around the same time as me to warn him that all lanes northbound and southbound were closed. Unfortunately, he had just gotten onto 85 and was at a complete standstill.

I dropped Ayden off at school and took my time by getting extra kisses and hugs. I drove to RaceTrac to fill up with gas and pondered my options. None of them looked very good. Down by us, there aren't a lot of alternate routes to the city. I decided my course and ended up sitting on Oakley Industrial for about 45 minutes until I finally reached Union City. I was able to get onto 85 northbound and made it to work over an hour late. I called Jason (who had taken my second option) to make sure he made it okay. The poor guy was still sitting on Hwy 29, nowhere near the job site.

Interstate 85 is a death trap during rush hour. I wish I could avoid it, but it's the quickest and shortest way into the city. Now that we're adding to our family in December, I think more and more about finding a job closer to home. I love having a career but I would really like to go part time. If I could find a job closer to home that allows me to work a 30-32 hour week with full benefits and no decrease in salary, I'd take it in a heartbeat. So, if you know of anyone in my area looking for a knowledgeable and dependable payroll accountant (who will hopefully be a CPP after October 1st) please let me know! Continuing to work in my field but still be accessable to my children would be a dream come true.

2008-08-18T08:33:00.004-04:00

Note: This picture was taken by Mimi and I found it on her blog this morning. As usual, my pictures haven't even been downloaded yet.

My baby is 4 years old. Where have the last 4 years gone? I took one look at him this morning and wanted to squeeze him tight and not let go. I'm so grateful for the times that he still wants to cuddle and snuggle and be right next to me. I love that when I wear a dress to work, he tells me I look pretty. I love that when we go brush our teeth in the morning, he has to hold my hand to the bathroom. And I really love that when I drop him off at school in the morning, he pushes the security button and holds the door for me...and then asks for one more kiss and hug.

Mimi always tells him that she's going to put a brick on his head so he can't get any bigger. So this morning when I asked him how I was going to keep him from getting sooooo big he told me "Mimi is already putting a brick on my head so you can't do that one". If I hadn't just gone to the bathroom, I'm sure I would have peed my pants while laughing. He's not only sweet, but totally entertaining as well.

We celebrated our big man's birthday on Saturday with dinner, presents and cake. Mimi and Bumpa were there as well so we turned it into a joint celebration since Mimi's birthday was on Thursday. I think his absolute favorite gift was his brand new big boy bike with training wheels from Mimi & Bumpa. Tonight we'll be heading to Partners Pizza for their yummy salad/pizza buffet. I took a few pictures on Saturday but haven't had a chance to download/edit them yet. Tonight will probably be my only chance before the week gets crazy...starting with tomorrow.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY my sweet boy. We all love you very much!!

Creative Funk

2008-08-15T13:46:00.003-04:00

So while I may be in the mood to clean and get organized, I'm finding myself in a creative funk. I've barely picked up my camera, I don't have any huge desire to scrap and I have 2 new scrap magazines that I haven't touched yet. I can't remember the last time I looked at 2Peas or any scrapping blogs. Normally I'm counting down the days until Scrap Club so I can get high on adhesive and card stock. Lately I'm mostly looking forward to a day away from the house, good food and good company. What the heck is going on with me?

Okay, don't answer that. This list of things that are wrong with me could be quite lengthy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIMI!

2008-08-14T09:09:00.003-04:00

Yup, it's Mimi's birthday today. Ayden is excited for 2 reasons.

1. He loves birthdays, birthday cake and birthday presents. Oh, and balloons. It doesn't matter that it's not for him, he just loves birthdays! This morning he told me that when Bumpa gets home from the airplane, we have to make Mimi a cake and he's going to help her open presents. Yes, little dude...that's exactly what we're going to do!

2. He knows that after Mimi's birthday, it's his birthday. On our way to school this morning he asked me for about the 10th time how many sleeps he had until his birthday. I promised him that after 4 sleeps, it would be his turn.

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mimi! We love you very much and hope you have a fabulous day. Of course, we'll see you at swim lessons tonight we'll grab a bite afterward but your true celebration will be this weekend. We can't celebrate without the Bumpa and a cake (per Ayden's instructions)!

Let the nesting begin!

2008-08-14T08:44:00.003-04:00

It's either an excess of hormones or the fact that I'm ready for fall, but I'm going into full blown nesting mode.

This week I took all of the "boy" bedding off the crib to wash and pack away. It sort of made me teary eyed when I thought about how both of my boys used that bedding. It's been part of our home for over 4 years now! I also took off the blue changing table pad. Now I just need to buy the sage green paint I want in there so Jason can get going on the walls. Jason finished painting the walls for Jameson the day I gave birth. I'd like to be a bit more prepared this time.

I've been cruising All Recipes for new things to cook. I found myself in the dessert section...I love to bake! I'm also ready to get out the crock pot. I loving coming home to a prepared meal, not to mention the way our house smells after cooking a beef roast all day. Yummy!

My kitchen as been clean since Saturday. And I've cooked in it! I think I may finally be back. The living room has been picked up before bedtime and our kitchen table is lacking all of the usual clutter...mail, folded clothes...etc. We actually ate at the table both Monday and Wednesday night. You have no idea how good this makes me feel.

ALL of our laundry is washed, folded and put away. The towels are actually put away where they belong instead of sitting on counter in the boys' bathroom. I've been lighting a couple of candles every night like I used to and the house smells like Clean Cotton (by Yankee Candle) once again. This weekend I want to steam clean all the rooms and tackle the desk area.

I've always been known for having the most clean and organized office here at the Chamber. Unfortunately things have gone down hill in that department during the past 4 months. I'm ready to get back in gear though. I'm organizing all my filing, doing the filing, preparing a batch of new hire folders and binding a ton of policy manuals today. Tomorrow when I get in I'll be able to vacuum and dust my office without anything being in the way. When I have to find something, I'll know exactly where it is because it'll be filed away properly. Yeah.

It definitely hasn't been easy to get motivated, but now that I am...look out! I'll have to take a few more pictures of Ava's closet this weekend. I think Mimi has made a few more trips this week:)

We're Loving Royal Learners!

2008-08-13T08:45:00.002-04:00

We're on day 3 at Royal Learners and I couldn't be more happy with our choice of school for Ayden. Every day I pick him up and we get a daily report. It tells us what they did during Circle Time, songs they sang, stories they read, what took place in each of the Learning Centers, what was for lunch/how he ate and if he napped or rested.

There are 6 Learning Centers:
Phonics & Writing
Math/Manipulatives
Creative Art
Science
Home Living
Blocks

Yesterday they were focusing on "friendships" and made a friendship salad for cooking class. They'll be introducing Spanish lessons a little later.

And let me tell you...those kids eat well! For example, here's what they had yesterday:

Breakfast:
Pancakes w/Syrup
Bacon
Applesauce
Milk

Lunch:
Ham & Cheese Quesadillas
Green Peas
Diced Peaches
Milk

Snack:
Pizza on Whole Wheat
Fruit Bowl
Juice

Jameson is doing better than ever at Marguerite's. I think he really enjoys having time away from his big brother. Normally they would fight over who was going to carry the backpack in, who was going to open the door and who would get a hug goodbye first. Jameson would have a total meltdown the second he saw me heading for the door and just sit in the window crying as I backed down the driveway. Now he tells his brother goodbye, walks into the house and barely has time for his goodbye hug before he gets busy with David. It's now his job to put the vacuum cleaner away and help water the outside plants. He's in heaven! It's all him doing "big boy" stuff without his brother in the way.

Even at night, I think they're getting along better. Since they haven't been trying to kill each other all day, I think they actually enjoy playing together and hanging out watching cartoons. Hopefully the peace lasts because it's making me one happy mommy!

Ayden, Jameson, Ultrasound, Closet and Week #21

2008-08-12T08:59:00.007-04:00

I had expected yesterday morning to not go well for two reasons.

1. I was going to be dropping Jameson off at Marguerite's while Ayden remained in the car. He was going to go hang out with David...by himself...for an hour before the other kids got there. He hasn't been without his brother at the sitter's in 2 years. I was worried.

2. I was then going to drop Ayden off for his first day of PreK. Was I worried about Ayden? No way. I was worried about me. I had my fingers crossed that there wouldn't be a lot of parents dropping off at 6:45am and my tears would go unnoticed.

Well, it went better than expected. Way better. When we arrived in Marguerite's driveway Ayden turned to Jameson and said, "Okay brudder. You go into Mar-reet's and I stay in the car so I can go to school.". Jameson turned to Ayden and said, "Bye-bye! Day!!!". We walked into the house, he gave me a hug and kiss, told me "Day" and proceeded to put the vacuum cleaner away. BTW - "Day" means have a good day.

After the 2 minute drive to Royal learners, I insisted that Ayden stand by some wicker furniture so I could take his picture with his new backpack. He couldn't have been less interested in having his pictured taken and only wanted to get his butt through the door. We put his backpack in his room and joined the rest of the early arrivals to hang out on the comfy couches they have in the entrance area. I had to force a hug and kiss from my baby and it was then that I started to bawl my eyes out. I hid in Ayden chubby cheek hoping no one would notice. Ayden put his hand on my cheek and said "It'll be okay mommy". Hmmmm. My soon-to-be-4-year-old was consoling me. In front of like 6 parents! I gave him one last hug, told him to be good and ran out the door to may waiting vehicle.

To make matters worse, this is a very nice school and we're paying out the rear for it. As I looked up to leave, I noticed all of the Land Rovers, Escalades, BMWs and Mercedes. I was the only Eddie Bauer Ford Expedition with more dents than a single human could possibly count (thanks to downtown Atlanta parking!). I'm sure that I've been labeled the "Crazy Mom Who Can't Leave Her Child Without Crying And Drives a Ford".

Oh well, Ayden loved his first day and I spent some quality time at work spying on him online. I love that they have all sorts of cameras inside the classroom and on the playground.

I also had another ultrasound yesterday. This one was pretty important to me. Dr. Korotkin announced at my last ultrasound that we were going to have a girl, but I needed one more confirmation. At first, Ava's legs were crossed and curled in toward her body. Great. After poking at my stomach and jiggling it all around, I got a few kicks and asked if they could look one more time. Ava had uncurled her legs just enough that Dr. Korotkin was able to see that despite my suspicions, our baby had not sprouted a penis during the past 5 weeks. He was still trying to convince me that it couldn't be "tucked" away somewhere as I was walking out the door. I'm definitely feeling more confident that Ava will remain a girl. This is a good thing, since this what her closet is starting to look like...

Hmmmm...see any pink in there?

Anyhoo, here's what's going on during Week #21!

Your beautiful little miracle-gro baby will be putting on a full ounce and a half this week (and weighing up to 16.5 ounces), but that’s just the beginning! Within the next five weeks, they’ll really be packin’ it on! For now, we’re pleased to report the addition of rapid eye movement (REM) a key component to any healthy baby’s sleep schedule. While in the dermatology department: their thin soft skin is very red, rather translucent, and a bit wrinkled. Not to worry, it’s not a premature aging disease. It's just their clever little body setting them up with extra space that will smooth out once your little one starts packing on the baby-fat. That won’t be for a few more weeks, though. So for the time being, your munchkin is still a little lean mean growing machine! The beginnings of what is commonly called “brown fat” is just starting to fill in to help your baby retain some body heat, which is crucial as they’re not yet capable of regulating their own body temperature.

TGIF!

2008-08-08T13:28:00.001-04:00

I'm beyond happy that today is Friday!!! It's been one long week and this mommy is exhausted. Jason had a horrible day on Wednesday so decided to not work late and instead spend time with his family. We took Ayden to Royal Learners so he could see his new classroom and meet his teachers. I am sooooo excited about Ayden attending this school. After talking with his teachers (Ms. Bo and Ms. Julie) I know that we're doing the right thing by having him attend private Pre-K. After the "Meet & Greet" we headed over to Taco Mac for a nice dinner. It was so nice to have Jason with us.

Yesterday I picked up the boys and went home to change for swim lessons. Daddy decided to work a normal 10 hour day again so I had an extra set of hands at the Peachtree Dive Center. Ayden was so excited to see Nicole and get in the pool. He kept telling me that he wasn't going to cry and he was going to be a big boy. We ran into the pool area (a little late) and then the tears starting flowing. It took me about 5-10 minutes, but I finally convinced him to get in the water. Nicole grabbed him to do a floating exercise, and it was all smiles and tons of enthusiasm after that. Compared to Tuesday, I thought it went much better last night. I have high hopes for a tear free swim lesson this coming Tuesday. Daddy and the boys dropped me off for nails and then hit McDonalds for Ayden's reward...a strawberry milkshake and chicken nuggets. After they were done eating, my nails were done and the scooped me up to go home.

After such a hectic week and three nights away from the house, I'm excited to cook dinner and just relax. Tomorrow we'll be spending time around the house getting some cleaning done. Okay, so I'll be the only one doing the cleaning, but at least we'll all be home. The temps dropped yesterday from 98 to the 80's and it's supposed to stay below 90 all weekend. What a great opportunity to get the kids outside and get a few things accomplished inside:) We got a school supply list Wednesday night so daddy is taking Ayden shopping for his supplies and new backpack. Some bonding time with daddy is exactly what Ayden needs. I even told them to stay out and grab lunch before coming home for a nap. Jameson and I will do just fine on our own. Saturday night Ayden is spending the night at Mimi's house. If I can get most of the items crossed off of my to-do list, we'll be lounging at the pool on Sunday. It'll be a great opportunity to practice some of the things Nicole has been having the kids do at swim lessons.

Next week, my current schedule comes to an end. Starting Monday, I will have two drop offs and two pick ups with the boys being in different places during the day. It'll be an adjustment but nothing we can't handle. I say that with my fingers and toes crossed:)

I have a 1:30 meeting that I'm about to be late for so I'd better run! Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!

It's mornings like this...

2008-08-06T08:04:00.003-04:00

that set me up for a happy day.

Ayden woke up on the right side of the bed for a change. I greeted him with my typical smile and tickles. Normally he just moans and moves over to the other side of the bed where he knows I can't reach him on the top bunk. This normally turns into an argument and tears, but not this morning. I helped him down with his friends and we moved to the living room for a little Jo Jo's Circus. He got dressed and we brushed his teeth without a single whine. There were lots of smiles and hugs for mommy. Jameson had migrated to our room around 4:30 this morning and was wide awake watching daddy get ready when I flew in to get him dressed. Again, a few tickles and he was all smiles. Cooperation from both of my boys? That's normally unheard of!

The kids got in the car after saying good morning to Jason's co-workers (our driveway now resembles a used car lot during the day) and we were off to Marguerite's. Ayden is always very good when it's time for mommy to leave for work. After a few hugs and kisses he crawls up on the couch next to David to watch some morning cartoons. Jameson on the other hand, has a total meltdown. This morning was different though. David asked for some help putting the vacuum cleaner away. Jameson took his hand, started to walk away and as an afterthought looked back at me and said goodbye with a big smile on his face. Being a working parent is so much easier when you can leave your children with a smile on their face!

So you have to check out my mom's blog for pictures from swim lessons last night. I brought my camera but was too busy keeping Ayden in the pool and Jameson out of it to take any pictures. Thank goodness Mimi came prepared.

Ayden was so excited about swim lessons. He knows how to do most of the stuff they're going to learn in Pre-Level 1 but didn't do so hot at swim evaluations. When we got there he couldn't wait to get in the water. I had already told him that it would just be him, his teacher and some other kids. Mommy could NOT get in the water with him. Everything was fine until his little butt hit the water.

I understand why though. He's comfortable with his family in the pool because he trusts us. He'd never met Nicole (swim teacher) before and did not trust that she would keep him safe. I tried walking away into the store area with Jameson hoping that he would be able to concentrate on Nicole and not me. Besides, the pool area was about 150 degrees and the store is air conditioned. There are also a ton of fish tanks to keep Jameson entertained. Apparently my absence didn't work. When I walked back in by the pool Ayden was having a nervous breakdown and wanted to get out of the pool to find me. After some soothing words from mommy and Mimi, we convinced Ayden to give it a try. After every exercise, he wanted to get out of the pool for a hug and more encouragement. Anything to get him motivated!

By the end of the lesson he was all smiles. Every time he would do something well with Nicole, we'd give him two big thumbs up. That was all the encouragement he needed going forward. He even announced at one point "Mommy! This getting easier!!". I'm so proud of my little man. As long as I'm sitting there with my eyes glued to his every action, he seems to do fine. Now that he knows Nicole is not going to let him drown, I think we'll have a better time on Thursday. If I can keep Jameson under control, I'll take some pictures.

Come back later today (or tomorrow) for a few good recipes!

Week 20

2008-08-05T13:31:00.004-04:00

I almost forgot to post baby Ava's progress this week! This coming Monday I have another ultrasound so I'll hopefully get that final confirmation that we're having a girl:)

This week you're carrying about 10.5 inches and 10.5 ounces of solid baby-miracle-goodness! Their little delicates bones continue to ossify and toughen while their itsy bitsy finger and toe pads are finishing up. Your little monkey now has teeth buds, although they’re hidden beneath the gum line. And finally! Their limbs have reached their relative proportions—no more alien baby! Their cute pink lips are more defined, and might be helping out in a bit of prenatal thumb-sucking. If you have a little boy, then their tiny testes are descending, though they have not yet passed the abdominal wall. What’s more, eyelashes and eyebrows are also visible. At this point, your little one really looks like a miniature baby—and we do mean miniature as your little swimmer currently weighs a mere eighth of their final birth weight. With half the pregnancy behind you, the most significant gains are yet to come!

Miscellaneous

2008-08-05T12:29:00.001-04:00

Miscellaneous things going on right now.....

1. I'm still frustrated with Jameson but realize that he's just going through the terrible two's. I went out to buy a "positive discipline" book on Saturday and came home with this beauty. So far I really like the book. I'm only into chapter 3 but the authors are so motivating!!

2. I also picked up this one. I promised myself I'd read Positive Discipline first, but I snuck in the first two chapters of Breaking Dawn and now don't want to put it down.

3. I met with my OB today. You can certainly tell that I was on vacation just a couple of weeks ago...I gained 3lbs in July. I've only gained a total of 4lbs, but I'm still paranoid. Last week I started going to the gym again and am back to eating salads for lunch.

4. I really want this for lunch today. Like REALLY bad. But I know we'll grab something after swim lessons tonight so I'm going to behave.

4. Life gets even more hectic for us this week...and going forward. Tonight I have to go home to let the dogs out, pick up the boys and race to swim lessons at 6pm. Tomorrow we have "Meet & Greet" at Ayden's new school. Thursday I have to do the home/dog/boys/swim lesson thing again and then I have to quickly get to my nail appointment...which I'll be late for. Somewhere in all of that I'll have to hit a drive thru so I can feed my kids.

5. I really need to get my dogs groomed. I'm losing them in all of their fur. I normally keep them shaved during the summer, but forgot to make their last appointment for the weekend before we left for vacation. Now they're out of control.

6. This weekend Ayden is spending the night at Mimi & Bumpa's. He's beyond excited. They taught him a cool new technique in the pool this past weekend (see my mom's blog for pics) and now all he wants is to go back to swim. This will be a nice treat for him before school starts on Monday.

7. I can't believe that school starts on Monday. Ayden has been with Marguerite since he was 8 months old. Now it'll just be Jameson at Ree Ree's until Ava starts in February. I think this is going to be hard on Jameson...he's never been away from from his brother. Ayden on the other hand will do great. He's ready to move on from all of the younger kids.

8. Jason has been working non-stop. We really don't see him during the week or on Saturdays so Sunday is a happy day for us all. Family time!

Well, I should go hit the gym before it gets too late.

2008 Wisconsin Trip (Days 5-9)

2008-08-04T07:55:00.007-04:00

We spent the second half of our vacation up at my parent's lake house. People in Wisconsin call them cottages, but here in the south they're known as lake homes. Anyway, we had a great time right from the start. Ayden was very excited about the sand toys and bug collector that grandma and grandpa had bought for them. He immediately wanted to roam the land looking for spiders, caterpillars and any other creepy crawly insect he could find. I didn't participate in this...I don't like bugs. Jameson like playing in the sand.

Wednesday night, Auntie Nikki (Ayden's Godmother) joined us after she finished with work. Uncle J (her husband and Ayden's Godfather) wouldn't be able to make it until Friday. I was so excited to see her! She got involved in the bug hunt even though she too dislikes insects. Thursday was a day for relaxation. Nikki and I stayed in the house reading our books until late morning and then finally decided to join the rest outside. We made a trip to Slippery Rock and took a put-put ride around the lake. Friday we geared up for the Danke invasion. My dad had decided that my aunts, uncles and cousins should all get together for a mini reunion while we were up with the boys. Friday we were expecting 10 additional people and Saturday would bring 5 more. OMG! 22 people up at the lake! I must admit that I expected some drama but there were only good times. We took another trip to Slippery Rock on Saturday and spent some quality time floating in the lake. Sunday came quickly, and it was a sad morning as I packed up our belongings to head back to Neenah. We had lunch with Jason's parents and made our way to Milwaukee to return our car and catch our flight back home. It was a long day but I was happy to back in Georgia and looking forward to resuming our routine.

Click here to see the rest of the pictures from days 5-9 Once in flickr, click the "i" for details.!

2008 Wisconsin Trip Pictures Days 1-4

2008-08-02T08:20:00.005-04:00

Can you believe that we haven't even been home a full week and I managed to get our pictures downloaded and edited? Okay, so the boys were forced to watch a lot of Scooby Doo last night before bed so I could get it all done but it was worth it!

So here are the pictures from days 1-4 which were spent in Neenah with Mima, Papa and endless amounts of friends and family. Click here to see the slideshow (click on the "i" to see photo descriptions)!

How would you feel???

2008-08-01T07:59:00.002-04:00

My mom has had the same puppy sitter ( I'll be calling her sitter instead of using her name) for 8 1/2 years. We've been using her since the day we moved...3 years ago. Our puppy sitter gets paid $14/day to come let our dogs out at noon. It takes about 5-10 minutes of her time. When we take vacations where we can't bring Bonnie and Clyde, we pay her $25/day to puppy sit. Her only added responsibility is to sleep at at our house with the dogs and bring in our mail. Again, not a bad arrangement. Seeing as she has her own family we certainly don't expect for her to stay at our house 24/7.

Our puppy sitter and her husband have been having some financial problems for about a year now. I tried to get her husband a job at the Chamber when our Data Analyst left, but it didn't work out. I hear about their problems in great detail via notes that we leave for each other. While I've always felt bad for their situation, my own plate is quite full and I didn't really want to be burdened with her problems as well. There were numerous times that she asked to be paid early or even via cash (instead of check). Within the last 4 months, it's really started to annoy both me and my mom. At the end of June she told us that they were going to be moving in with her parents in North Carolina some time in July or August. On one hand I was relieved...I wouldn't have to hear about someone else's personal problems anymore. On the other hand I was upset...who was going to let our dogs out now?

We had already lined her up to watch the dogs while we were in Wisconsin last week and she promised that she would stay through then. Her last day was to be July 27th, the day we got back. My mom started to frantically search for a new sitter, but in the end we decided to use the daughter-in-law of one of my co-workers. So, we left for vacation knowing that our dogs and home were in good hands while we were gone and we had someone lined up to start on Monday. Yeah!

When we got home Sunday night, the house seemed just fine. But then some things came up that really got us upset. Apparently, our sitter's dad came down from NC the weekend we left and moved all of their belongings from their home back to NC. So she and her husband, along with their 3 kids, moved into our house for the week. This was not pre-arranged with me. We came home to find that there was NO food in the house. We had purposely made a trip to the grocery store the night before we left so that there would be certain things available when we got home. Like juice for the boys. Our fridge, freezer and pantry were pretty much cleaned out. Things that we hadn't even opened yet were gone! They used Jameson's diapers for their son, there were over 12 messages on our voicemail from their family, they used all of the bubble bath, shampoo and body wash that we had for the boys and we found they practically used all of our toiletries as well. Oh, and our bedroom TV doesn't work so I'm not sure what happened there. There were also piles of doggy doo outside of the gate going into the backyard. Big piles...nothing that Bonnie and Clyde would have left so we also think their dog stayed with them as well. Jason and I were both livid!

On Wednesday, I went to get the steamer out to make broccoli and noticed the coffee pot had been thrown in the cabinet. We don't drink coffee. We have it for friends and family that come visit. I really didn't care that they used it, but they didn't clean it. There was coffee all over it and when I opened up the tray for the filter, there was still one in it with moldy coffee grounds. Gross! Then I went out to do some laundry. I had done ALL of our laundry before we left so both the washer and dryer should have been empty. In the washer I found stinky towels that they had washed but never put in the dryer. When I opened the dryer I found more clean towels and some of our clothes...clothes that were not dirty when we left. I'm still in shock that they had the nerve to wear our shirts!!!

So in the end we paid our sitter $225 (they cashed our check the Saturday we left so I can't even put a stop payment on it) to move her family into our house, eat our food and live off of our utilities for 9 days. If it weren't for the fact that she is now living in NC, I'd press the issue. Hopefully I have found all that is to be found and I can just get past this. This weekend I will be cleaning our house from top to bottom to hopefully rid ourselves of the feeling that we've been completely violated. I don't think I've ever felt so taken advantage of.

So far we're very happy with our new puppy sitter. Randi is only a year older than me and is a stay-at-home mom to a daughter and son who are exactly Ayden and Jameson's ages. She seems agreeable to do overnight visits so we'll be set for future vacations.

Thanks for listening to me vent. My poor mother has been hearing about it all week but has been very supportive by just letting me get it all out. How would you have felt if you came home to this sort of situation? Am I blowing it all out of proportion or would you have felt taken advantage of as well?

Parenting Is Hard Work

2008-07-31T13:22:00.003-04:00

Well, it certainly isn't a cake walk! And we're definitely not given an instruction manual at the hospital after delivery. Once you can prove you're able to change a diaper and you can get your baby to latch on for nursing, you're pretty much so kicked out of the hospital. Then you get your baby home and all you want to do is change it's clothes about 10 times a day (because everything is so darn cute!) and stare at your new bundle of joy.

And then reality sets in. You lay down in bed for a comfortable nights sleep and BAM! The baby is up...wanting to be fed, needing it's diaper changed or just looking for snuggles and love. And whether you nurse or bottle feed, there will still be those midnight feedings. And if you nurse...well, let's just admit it...bad things happen to the girls! As you're sitting there at 1am listening to info-mercials while nursing your newborn, you realize that you're breasts are never going to look the same again. But it's all worth it because you only want the best for your baby, right? Right!

Okay, so now you've got nursing/bottle feeding right and you can change a diaper in under 30 seconds. You haven't drowned your baby in the bathtub yet he/she hasn't rolled off the bed with a crash landing on the floor. Now it's time to move onto solid foods. When's the right time to start? Regular or organic? Rice cereal or a combo of rice with stage 1? These are all valid concerns because at 6months, we're already worried about screwing up our kid's life!

Next is rolling over, crawling, walking and talking. And once your child is mobile and talking...it gets even more scary. You're more concerned about what you say and how you act so that you're setting the right example. Things that once seemed so innocent (like TV) now become your worst nightmare. Whoever said children are like sponges, was right on! My darling Ayden hears everything, repeats everything and remembers everything.

My point to this is that parenting isn't exactly easy (like I thought it was going to be while still pregnant with Ayden). It's definitely the most rewarding thing I've ever done though. My hope for our children is not that they become the next rocket scientists. I would like them to do well in school so that they can succeed in life, but I feel like there are other things that I need to teach them as well. Manners, respect, morals and compassion...just to name a few. I feel like those "life lessons" are harder to instill in our children than the ABC's. When you're dealing with a 4 year old and a 2 year old, it's dang frustrating!!

If you've met Jameson, our 2 year old (wasn't that a treat?), you'll see where my frustrations lie. He's got the face of an angle and the personality of a demon. He can be sweet and cuddly and precious. But he can also be a terror. We've tried just about everything we can think of with him. Anyone else out there going through the terrible two's? Ayden, our 4 year old sort of skimmed over this stage so I was ill-prepared for Jameson. Well, everything we try with Jameson sort of fails. I'm going out this weekend to buy some books that will hopefully give me some much needed inspiration and advice.

If you too are struggling with the terrible two's, I thought you may find some of these books interesting:

Positive Discipline for Preschoolers
Positive Discipline - The First Three Years
The Mighty Toddler
How to Say No to Your Toddler
The Happiest Toddler on the Block

I'll let you know how I like them. I'll probably get one of the first two on my list first and go from there. Just keep in mind that what works for one child, may not work for another. My boys are prime examples of that!

2008 Wisconsin Vacation (Days 1-4)

2008-07-30T08:05:00.004-04:00

I love vacations. I love getting away from work and home responsibilities so we can spend some quality time together as a family. But let's face it...vacationing with two small children while pregnant isn't exactly relaxing. We had a fantastic time in Wisconsin seeing so many friends and family but now that we're home, the exhaustion is settling in.

We started our vacation on Saturday, July 19th. After crossing just about every item off of my 10 page list, I announced that we were ready to head to the airport. So my mom picked up my family of 4, 3 suite cases and 2 car seats and we were off. The kids were relatively behaved in the airport but once we got on the airplane I started to have thoughts of locking myself in the bathroom for the duration of the flight. Once we were in the air, Ayden sat nicely and watched a movie (thank goodness for portable DVD players!) but Jameson was out of control. He wanted to touch every button over our seats. I think the flight attendants were ready to throw us off the plane. It was difficult to keep him from kicking and pushing on the other passenger seats and let's not forget to mention he had horrible gas. There is nowhere to change a diaper on an airplane so I had my fingers crossed that the gas would not turn into poop. I was so excited when our plane landed almost 30 minutes early in Milwaukee.

Daddy and Ayden went to collect our bags and Jameson and I headed to the rental car area. First I got in the wrong line and when I found the right one, it was practically a mile long. Apparently Budget is quite popular. Once we had our car, we had to put in the car seats and stuff our luggage in the trunk. We were ready to make the 1 1/2 hour drive north to Neenah. The first thing both of the boys wanted was a movie. Sorry guys...no DVD player in this car. Luckily we weren't too far into our drive before they both fell asleep. We met up with some family and friends at Ground Round for lunch (I ate waaaaay too much) and then headed to the Payne's for some rest before Jameson's baptism.

So we're all pretty tired from traveling all day but we made it to the church by 5:00 for the baptism. There's a reason I chose the Saturday night service instead of Sunday morning's....no one was there! Have you ever seen a 2 year old get baptized? It's not pretty. Jameson was rolling and crawling all over the alter. He kept lifting my dress up and when it came time to do the "water" part, he looked at the pastor and said "NO, NO, NO" and shook his finger at him. Humiliating, yet so very entertaining. We went to Cranky Pat's for some of the best pizza in the world (the south just doesn't know how to make a good thin crust) and then went to my parent's house for a bath and bed.

We spent Sunday through Tuesday hanging out with Jason's family and some friends. We had dinner at Cory and Wendy's, played at Riverside park, let the boys jump around naked in a fountain, took a few walks and made Mima some pretty stepping stones for her garden. We saw all sorts of aunts, uncles, cousins and great grandparents.

I'll try and get some pictures posted of our first 4 days before we move on to the second half of our vacation...the lake!

Week 19

2008-07-28T10:07:00.002-04:00

Okay, so one more quick post before I dive into payroll. Baby Ava has started to make her presence known to me. I can feel light little kicks every once in a while, but nothing strong enough for anyone else to feel. In a couple of weeks, she should be kicking hard enough for Jason and the boys to feel. We don't see the OB again until the 5th and our next ultrasound with the Perinatologist is on the 11th. Here's what's happening this week though...we're almost half way to our due date!

Your amazing little baby is now around 10 inches in length! If this seems a bit shocking, you’ll be relieved to know they’ve not actually grown over 3 inches, but that their little legs are now straight enough to be measured. This is when doctors begin measuring fetal growth from head to toe, (no longer “crown to rump” or CR). Lanugo (little hairs) covers their whole body now, trapping that charming cheese-like vernix caseosa (see week 18) to the surface to the skin. This week your lil’ fetus will start on an appetizing diet of amniotic fluid which they are now capable of swallowing, digesting, and passing the fluid as far as their tiny “large” intestines. Fortunately for you, this nice little lump of baby-poop won’t be coming out while they’re still in your womb. Some time shortly after they’re born, this fun lump will become the first in a long line of baby poops. (What finally comes out— commonly known as “meconium” to the science world, will be black and sticky, and you’ll be very glad it happens only once!)

Safe and Sound

2008-07-28T08:42:00.003-04:00

Well, we're back. I'm not functioning very well, but I'm here. The first thing I tackled this morning was email. I always turn on my "out of office" message when I'll be out but I still managed to have 275 emails in my inbox. Once I went through and deleted/responded to the majority I still had 108...8 of which were work related that I need to do some investigating on. The remaining 100??? All from the Divas! I have no idea what they were up to last week, but I'll catch up later this afternoon.

Next on the list was to quickly scan through my top 7 blogs.

Deb - Have a great time on your vacation this week. Looks like you got in a lot of grandson time before you left. I swear Baby Jack is getting cuter and cuter every time you post pictures of him!

Mom - It sounds like you had some relaxing time at the pool while we were gone! We're back now so the peace and serenity are officially gone. Also, thanks for the award:)

Pam - Hmmmm. Not too much blogging going on Pam's Little Blog.

Chere - You crack me up...as usual. I too dislike manufacturers who neglect to put an expiration date on their food products. Expired food is on the top of my pet peeve list. Just ask mom. I'm constantly cleaning out her pantry.

Judy - I love the volcano pictures that you posted from your Hawaii trip! I'm so glad that you're home and can't wait to catch up this Sunday.

Kelly - Congrats on the purchase of your new home. I can't wait to see pictures once you're all settled in. BTW - I too dislike people who can't put their shopping carts away properly when done with them. That's up there on my top 10 pet peeve list along with missing expiration dates!

Roxanne - Looks like you had a great time at your convention. Seeing your pictures sure does bring back memories. Chicago is such a beautiful city but after living/working there for so long, you tend to take advantage of it's charm. It was so nice to see you while we were in Wisconsin...if only for a couple of hours.

Tonight the boys and I will be having dinner with Mimi while daddy starts back up his 12-15 hour days. I did most of our laundry while in Wisconsin so only need to put things away tonight. I think it will be an early night to bed for me and the boys. Sometime during the next couple of weeks I'll get around to editing the 300+ photos I took during our trip. I'll also post more tomorrow on what we all did during our 9 days away from home.

Now it's time to process payroll. Nothing like coming back after a week of vacation, only to process payroll (start to finish) in one day. I didn't get the prep work done before I left like I wanted to so today will be a little stressful.